ournal Summer 2009, Vol. 19 No. 2

Glacier Chasers Also in this issue: Journalism“missteps” examined Students tweet Montana pollution trial Enviro stories snatch national awards

A quarterly publication of the Society of Environmental Journalists The new must-have, non-partisan guide tohotly contested issues of the nuclear era

An essential reference, The Reporter’s Handbook presents scientifically accurate and accessible overviews of the most important issues in the nuclear realm, including:

G health effects G nuclear safety and engineering G Three Mile Island and Chernobyl G nuclear medicine G food irradiation G transport of nuclear materials

304 pages I 978-0-8265-1659-6 hardcover $69.95 I 978-0-8265-1660-2 paper $29.95 G spent fuel G nuclear weapons ABOUT THE AUTHORS: G global warming Three of the authors (Michael R. Greenberg, Karen W. Lowrie, and Henry J. Mayer) have for more than a decade done nuclear The Reporter’s Handbook contains background waste research and review work as part of their association with briefs on topics related to nuclear materials, the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder energy, waste management, and risk; a glossary; Participation. The authors are also associated with the National key web and paper sources; and context regarding Center for Neighborhood and Brownfield Redevelopment at the risk assessment, environmental impact, economics, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at and policy. Each “brief” is based on interviews Rutgers. Greenberg also serves as associate editor for environ- with named scientists, engineers, or administra- mental health for the American Journal of Public Health and as tors in a nuclear specialty, and each has been editor-in-chief of Risk Analysis, where Lowrie serves as managing reviewed by a team of independent experts. editor. Bernadette M. West is Co-Chair of the Health Systems (The approach is based on that of their earlier and Policy Department at UMDNJ School of Public Health. book, The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook, which won a special award for journalism from the Sigma Delta Chi Society of professional journalists.) VAN DERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESS

800-627-7377 G VanderbiltUniversityPress.com SEJournal Summer 2009,Vol. 19 No. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS features

An experiment in Grace page 5 By Nadia White

Photographers’ images capture global warming’s advance page 18 By Roger Archibald

Media critic: Who will do regional or local investigations in science? page 23 By Michael Mansur

page 18 NYT reporter’s ‘misstep’ causes furor among ‘skeptics’ page 26 By Bud Ward

President’s Report: New Orleans retreat examines SEJ mission page 4 page 23 By Christy George

Inside Story: Texas journalist adapts and digs deeper on the e-beat page 8 By Bill Dawson columns E-Reporting Biz: Amid the fear and fretting, an idea for journalism’s future page 12 By Bud Ward

Reporter’s Toolbox: The easy way to do cool stuff online, mostly for free page 14 By Daniel Lathrop

The Beat: In these hard times, enviro stories take major prizes, honors page 16 By Bill Dawson

SEJ News: Five women move a mountain ... and end up in the trees page 22 By Linda L.S. Knouse

Science Survey: Biofuels — The sequel page 28 COVER PHOTO By Bill Kovarik An Extreme Ice Survey team exploring a meltwater canyon carved almost 200 feet deep into the massive Book Shelf Book Reviews page 31 Greenland ice sheet by increasing summer runoff. Photo: © James Balog / Extreme Ice Survey

3 SEJournal Summer 2009 SEJ President’s Report New Orleans retreat examines SEJ mission in these difficult times

By CHRISTY GEORGE

SEJ’s strategic planning retreat started with challenging beat. gumbo ya-ya and ended with new vision and mission SEJ has always been about journalists helping statements, and new marching orders for our almost- journalists, in a field where there’s a lot of complexity to 20-year-old organization. master. Since SEJ was founded in 1990, the stakes have In a time of massive transformation in our indus- risen higher and higher. We now face a world where the try, SEJ-ers are not the slightest bit unclear about who environment itself is under severe threat, at a time when we are: a group of people who share a commitment to we, the messengers, face an uncertain future. The next making sure people — lots of people — understand three to five years are likely to be as critical for the fate clearly what is happening to our environment. We of the planet as for the future of journalism. aren’t activists, but we are mission-driven. We don’t The crisis has hit print hard, but no media platform advocate outcomes, but we do the work we do because we hope for is immune, and no funding model has yet emerged as a clear solu- good outcomes. tion. It’s not clear how bad things will get before the industry hits With 30 wordsmiths in one room, you might expect trouble. bottom. It’s not just newspapers that have lost advertising revenues. What we got instead was a clean, crisp re-statement of SEJ’s vision Magazines, niche publications and newsletters are also cutting — our overarching goal, the big vision that guides us as a 501(c)(3) staff. Commercial television stations all over the country are educational non-profit. Whether we fully attain it or not, it’s the buying out their highly paid anchors. Some for-profit companies lofty outcome we seek. see the answer to their woes as going non-profit. But even public The group went from this: “SEJ members envision an broadcasting has hit hard times. National Public Radio recently informed society through excellence in environmental journalism” laid off more than 50 people in its newsroom, and marquee PBS to this: “Credible and robust journalism that informs and engages programs have been losing major funders for several years. society on environmental issues.” Will at least one newspaper survive in every major city? Will There’s a lot packed into two adjectives and one verb. TV stations continue to produce local news, or will some pack it in, “Engages” — a commitment to making a bigger impact, “robust” leaving big cities with one or two news teams instead of three or — a vision of a changed future that is even healthier than it was four? And in smaller towns, will any local TV survive? Will before all this churning began, and “credible” — the enduring smaller dailies and weekly papers grow to fill the void left by value we refuse to give up no matter how intense the economic shrinking big city dailies? Will online news sites ever make enough pressure. This is a vision statement we’ll actually remember. money to support many environmental beat reporters? The revised mission statement — our everyday mantra, a All of this was on the minds of SEJ’s strategic planning group statement of what is possible, what we strive to accomplish with all at the New Orleans retreat, where we committed SEJ’s board and of SEJ’s programs and operations — also reflects where we are staff to re-examine our programs and services, find creative ways and where we hope to head. to grow and diversify our membership, engage both volunteers and Current: staff to prevent burnout and renew SEJ, and make SEJ a leader in SEJ’s MISSION: To advance public understanding of defining journalistic integrity. environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and One critical issue in the old plan that we didn’t mention was visibility of environmental reporting. building SEJ’s stature. The reason? We’re there. It’s a testament to Proposed: the hard work of SEJ’s staff and volunteers that we have come so SEJ’s MISSION: To strengthen the quality, reach and viabil- far in earning both public trust and the respect of our peers. ity of journalism across all media to advance public understand- Are there bumps in the road ahead? Almost certainly. SEJ ing of environmental issues. faces internal pressure from our growing number of freelancers to Most noteworthy is who comes first in the new mission help them make ends meet. Some ideas are easy — like serving as statement: Journalism, with a capital J. a clearinghouse for information about publications. Some are It’s not because we’ve stopped caring what our readers and harder, demanding significant staff time — like offering SEJ as a listeners and viewers and surfers get out of our work. It’s because, fiscal sponsor for members who win grants. Some may not be without us, they won’t get serious, authoritative and trustworthy possible, like providing health insurance, which our lawyer has information. For the moment, we need to turn our gaze inward. We told us could run afoul of IRS guidelines for 501(c)(3) non-profit need to hold up high standards as we create new media outlets and groups. But we are committed to exploring all of these possibilities, platforms. We need to tell the story of the 21st Century, the story and many more. of the environment, to an even wider audience. We need to pass There are also powerful external pressures. Keeping a steady on our highest values to a new generation of reporters, editors and stream of funding coming at a time when philanthropies are content producers. And we need to protect the brain trust of retrenching may be SEJ’s biggest challenge of all. This summer, environmental journalists who’ve spent years learning this continued on page 33 4 SEJournal Summer 2009 Feature An experiment in Grace Major case covered by new media produces satisfying results PHOTO BY DANIEL DOHERTY Andrew Schneider, formerly of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, discusses the criminal prosecution of W.R. Grace & Co. with University of Montana environmental journalism and law school students. Schneider brought national attention to asbestos contamination in the Grace mining town of Libby, Mont., in 1999. How journalism and law students teamed up and used new media to cover the criminal polluters W.R. Grace & Co. trial

By NADIA WHITE

The story of widespread asbestos contamination in the timber http://andrewschneiderinvestigates.com/ and mining town of Libby, Mont., was well told by the time the This is the story of how a large team of student reporters and criminal trial designed to assess blame rolled around in February. legal analysts stepped in to fill a notable void in coverage of what But the question loomed: As the news industry contracted, who The New York Times called, “A reckoning in one of America’s would cover the story? worst industrial disasters.” It was an experiment both in collabo- Andrew Schneider broke the news of Libby’s health crisis in ration and the use of new media. the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1999. His stories triggered a The Grace Case Project harnessed the energy of 14 under- decade of federal investigations and, arguably, the criminal suit graduate journalism students and 17 law students to cover the itself. But his newspaper didn’t live to see a verdict. criminal prosecution — from jury selection to acquittal — of W.R. By spring, Schneider was covering the criminal trial of Grace & Co., and three of its former executives accused of inten- U.S. v. W.R. Grace & Co. and its managers and executives for his tionally poisoning a Montana town and conspiring for decades to blog. The Post-Intelligencer had stopped publishing and also gone keep that a secret. were the throngs of reporters who followed Schneider to Libby to In many ways the trial proved to be a one-room schoolhouse meet for themselves the people poisoned by a dusty industrial on environmental journalism. It featured dueling scientists, disaster. Schneider’s stories can be found at his website, discussions of risk and risk analysis and close parsing of policy,

5 SEJournal Summer 2009 PO Box 2492, Jenkintown, PA 19046 especially the criminal provisions of the Clean Air Act. The Grace Ship:115 West Avenue, Suite 301 Jenkintown, PA 19046 trial challenged reporters to tell the broad social narrative of the ournal Ph 215-884-8174 established story of W.R. Grace’s effect on Libby in the very Fax 215-884-8175 narrow confines of an awkward, overcharged, federal criminal case. © 2009 by the Society of Environmental Journalists. The journalists in the group used new media to offer old- fashioned trial coverage. The law students used the weblog format The mission of the organization is to advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting. to offer analysis and explanation of legal strategy. Editor: Mike Mansur This was not, of course, the first trial covered using Twitter Assistant Editor: Bill Dawson and blogs. Ron Sylvester of The Wichita Eagle pioneered trial Design Editor: Linda Knouse coverage via Twitter. And a team of four bloggers with Photo Editor: Roger Archibald Firedoglake.com took collaborative blog coverage into federal Section Editors court covering the trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby. The Grace Case Book Shelf: Elizabeth Bluemink team built on those examples in size, depth and length – a bigger Research Roundup: Jan Knight E-Reporting Biz: Bud Ward team, offering more analysis about a trial that ran longer than any Reporter’s Toolbox: Robert McClure previous live-blogged prosecution. Science Survey: Cheryl Hogue The trial ultimately ran almost three months – 35 trial days. SEJ News: Chris Rigel Thirty-one reporters covered shifts in the courtroom, working in The Beat: Bill Dawson teams of two – one journalist, one law student. The weblog hosted

Editorial Board dozens of background articles written by Grace Case Project Robert McClure (chair), Elizabeth Bluemink, A. Adam Glenn, Bill Kovarik, participants and scores of links to additional coverage, evidence Mike Mansur, David Sachsman, JoAnn M. Valenti, Denny Wilkins and outside legal sources.

SEJ Board of Directors President, Christy George Twitter skeptics — including Oregon Public Broadcasting First Vice President/Program Chair, Carolyn Whetzel many law students and lawyers BNA Second Vice President/Membership Chair, Cheryl Hogue who had never used it — found Chemical and Engineering News Secretary, Mark Schleifstein it addictive to watch the real- Times-Picayune Treasurer/Finance Chair, Peter P. Thomson time coverage. Public Radio International’s The World Future Conference Sites Chair, Don Hopey The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Those who followed the trial said the weblog and Twitter James Bruggers format worked: The Courier-Journal “The blog, frankly, is an impressive piece of work,” Ashby Jeff Burnside Jones wrote on the WSJ.com Law Blog. “It features recaps of just WTVJ-TV, NBC, Miami about every moment of courtroom action, dating to Feb. 19, the Dina Cappiello day the trial began. It has links to evidence, bios of all the major AP Peter Fairley players, and links to other news reports. Perhaps most impres- Independent Journalist sively, from where we sit, is its insistence on making it accessible Robert McClure to non-lawyers.” (http://bit.ly/yQuJz)) InvestigateWest That was a goal of the project: to provide trial coverage Tim Wheeler capable of informing at least two distinct audiences. Those groups Baltimore Sun were people personally affected by asbestos exposure, and attor- Representative for Academic Members, Bill Kovarik Radford University neys and scientists interested in how this case played out. Representative for Associate Members, Rebecca Daugherty The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department Independent Journalist of Justice and W.R. Grace, as well as the local provider for the Founding President, Jim Detjen town of Libby, were among the top networks viewing the site. Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University Ultimately, almost 10,000 people tuned in at one time or another. Executive Director, Beth Parke “Knowing that I’ve been writing for an audience, for real Director of Programs and Operations, Chris Rigel people with real interests and concerns, has made me put so much Visit www.sej.org more care into the writing I’ve done for this class,” said Carmen George, a junior journalism student. “Being a journalist is a very SEJournal (ISSN: 1053-7082) is published quarterly by the Society of Environmental Journalists, P.O. Box 2492, Jenkintown, PA 19046. Send story ideas, articles, news briefs, tips and letters to Editor Mike serious responsibility and obligation, and that only becomes real Mansur, Kansas City Star, [email protected]. The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) is a non-profit, tax exempt, 501(c)3 organization funded by grants from foundations, universities and media companies, mem- when you are actually doing the reporting for a real audience.” ber dues and fees for services. SEJ does not accept gifts or grants from non-media corporations, government Twitter skeptics — including many law students and lawyers agencies or advocacy groups. Its membership is limited to journalists, educators and students who do not lobby or do public relations work on environmental issues. For non-member subscription information see who had never used it — found it addictive to watch the real- www.sej.org under publications. time coverage. “Their coverage provides amazing access to the courtroom,”

6 SEJournal Summer 2009 wrote Kate Bladow, a blogger with techno.la, a technology blog for legal aid and public interest advocates. “They are telling the story in a professional, yet engaging, way and in my opinion, it is much more fascinating than any episode of ‘Law & Order’.” Getting started with The tweets flowed into a box on the blog page. That meant people who checked the blog didn’t have to brave the new world live court coverage of Twitter.com to read the tweets. They read them and were hooked. This was not frivolous twittering about breakfast choices. Amy Guth, a lawyer who has worked in Libby for 20 years, said the Twitter updates were so compelling that she finally had to cut them off cold turkey. “I was addicted to it,” Guth said. “It was fascinating and I’d just wait for the next update … I finally had to just get off it and pay attention to my job.” “... much more fascinating than any episode of‘Law & Order’“ • Talk to the judge, clerk of court and courthouse staff very She said she forwarded the blog address to all the people she early in the process. Be upfront about your goals and knew who felt strongly about W.R. Grace, one way or another. access needs. Many of our requests were initially denied, but “I think a great thing to come out of this trial and this project later approved. is that people have more interest in being educated about the Libby amphibole and what it is and how to protect themselves,” she said, • Enter those talks with a sense of what you want, referring to the geologic structure at the heart of the asbestos trial and a sense of what you absolutely need. We wanted laptops and public health concern. in the courtroom. If that had been denied, we would have Judge Donald Molloy, the federal district judge who presided needed a separate media room with a video feed. In the end, over the W.R. Grace trial, supported the project because he wanted the court provided both. as many people as possible to see and understand the judicial process. He also said he hoped the collaboration between jour- • Create and sustain a shared set of journalistic values for nalism and law students would improve the accuracy of the reporters by talking about the group’s core values. This is espe- coverage of the legal aspects of the trial. cially important if coverage will be a citizen- or Not all judges embrace transparency that way. community-based collaboration. During the final week of the Grace trial a celebrity-studded bankruptcy trial focused on the exclusive Yellowstone Club for • If you’re designing a single-purpose weblog or page for the super rich was held in the same courthouse. Jonathan Weber, a trial, think about the features you want to offer and begin the the founder of Missoula-based news site NewWest.net, used design process early. Form may drive function. Twitter to cover the opening day of the trial. He arrived at the courthouse the next day only to have the judge demand he stop • Develop background materials early. A rich trove of Twittering or lose all computer privileges in the courtroom. explainers, bios and backgrounders allow you to use internal Weber continued to file updates during breaks but his links to enrich posts without making them longer. experience contributed to a growing concern that judges are conflating the problem of tainted juries and witnesses with new media. Twittering is no different than posting to a blog or filing a breaking news story with NewWest, Weber argued to no avail. It’s still up to the jury and witnesses to avoid seeking out information about the trial. Grace Case Project Analytics: The same might be said about journalists using new media as a reporting tool: The rules remain the same. • 35 daysincourt While I teach reporting with Twitter in my advanced skills • 86 days between opening statements & verdicts class each fall, it comes in the context of the main focus of the • 4,561 tweets sent class: Learning to report stories that are accurate, timely and • 310 posts posted newsworthy. • 1,332 comments posted Next generation journalists are going to have to be good at • 3,597 maximum unique viewers in a day learning new applications. But it is the old school values that will • 9,827 number of absolutely unique viewers earn an audience, and people’s, trust. • 3 average number of page views • 5:41 average time on site. Nadia White teaches at the University of Montana School of Journalism in Missoula, Mont.

7 SEJournal Summer 2009 Inside Story

Texas journalist adapts and digs deeper on the e-beat

By BILL DAWSON

Greg Harman is a staff writer for the San Antonio House. That was good inspiration. Current, the alternative weekly in that city. He got into My family moved across the country in journalism a dozen years ago and has persisted in 1985 and by the time I hit high school I had pursuing an interest in environmental and investigative a fanzine going, dedicated to hardcore punk reporting through a variety of jobs. They included music and dripping with anti-war, pro-Earth work at small weekly and semi-weekly newspapers, type messages. But by the time I was supposed dailies, alternative weeklies and a web-based to move into career-land, I froze. Eventually I environmental publication that he conceived and found newspapers. published in Houston. Without any formal training, I figured one Harman started his career at the semi-weekly place was as good as the next to get the basics and

Pecos Enterprise in West Texas, where he wrote about PHOTO COURTESY GREG HARMAN I accepted a job in West Texas, a little 2,000- disposal of radioactive waste in nearby New Mexico. Greg Harman circulation, semi-weekly in Pecos. (“Home of the He then moved on to the daily Odessa American,alsoinWest World’s First Rodeo.” Try fact-checking that one!) This was Texas, as the area reporter. At the American, he covered a variety cattle country at one time, but overgrazing did a number there. of environmental topics, including the New Mexico disposal issue, Then it was cotton country, until a handful of folks got rich black bears in Big Bend National Park and an environmental sucking the aquifer up. During my stay, the economic development justice issue involving air pollution from a local chemical plant. drivers were prisons, sludge spreading, radioactive waste disposal, Along the way to his job at the Current, he worked as a and a bit of oil and gas. Pretty much in that order. That is to say, it’s reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, was publisher-editor of a weekly great country for environmental writing. paper in Alpine, Texas, for three years until the owner closed it, After a few gigs at other newspapers, I settled into a lovely, and served as environment writer at the daily Sun Herald in seldom-traveled corner of West Texas to run a weekly paper just Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss. After that job, he joined the Houston Press, north of Big Bend National Park. For three years, we took on all an alternative weekly, as a staff writer. After he lost that job in a sorts of good fights, but as we were a safe distance outside the oil staff reduction, he launched the web-based publication Earth patch now, much of the more overt environment writing slipped Houston, which he produced for about eight months. After a brief into the editorial page. It was only after the paper was sold and stint at a non-profit wildlife rescue organization, he joined the staff shut down that I realized what it was I really wanted to do. I have of the Current (for which he had been doing some freelancing) a E. O. Wilson’s The Future of Life to thank for clearing that up for me. couple of years ago. Q: You’re now a staff writer for the San Antonio Current, Harman’s bio on the Current’s Web site includes his future the alternative weekly in that city. You’ve been giving a good intentions: “He plans to quit the news-writing business just as soon deal of coverage lately to the transition of San Antonio’s CPS as victimization and despair cease to be a natural outflow of Energy, the nation’s biggest city-owned energy company economic progress.” He answered e-mailed questions from providing both gas and electricity, to a more sustainable path. SEJournal about his experiences as a person who wanted to be a What are some aspects of the story that might be instructive to journalist covering the environment and has stayed with reporters elsewhere, regardless of whether they’re in cities with that decision. municipally owned utilities? Have there been notable challenges or rewards in covering the story? What are some Q: Why did you decide to go into journalism? What drew other topics and issues you’ve handled at the Current? you to environmental journalism? You’ve stuck with environ- A: We kind of went at CPS Energy with both barrels back in mental reporting through a number of career changes. When 2007, right after they became the first utility in 29 years to file did you realize that you had a particular passion for writing paperwork for new nuke plants in the States. With the declarative about environmental problems and issues? headline “CPS Must Die,” complete with cover art worthy of a A: I suppose it was somewhat inevitable that I would wind up Metallica album, we suggested that an aggressive campaign of in this mess. I grew up in a pretty politically minded family in the energy efficiency and new renewable power — all based on a D.C. area. I had that not atypical connection youngsters have with decentralized power model — would be a better path forward for all manner of the creeping, cold-blooded and scaly things. Of the city. I had no idea there were so many energy wonks in South course, we also had James Watt at Interior and Reagan in the White Texas. It sparked a huge amount of interest among our readers and

8 SEJournal Summer 2009 has remained sort of a bread-and-butter topic since then. more fully develop a story. However, once it’s written, the story, Even though CPS is a city-owned utility, it operates those people, are pretty much history. It’s on to the next independent of the council in everything but board appointments freak accident. and rate-setting. They weren’t used to public scrutiny, either, so As a smaller paper, the Current requires its three news Open Records (Act) requests have been a huge part of this story. writers to turn around copy at a quicker clip. On the positive side, I’ll file an Open Records request on CPS sometimes before I even that allows me to sort of build a beat more approximate to what start making calls on a topic. While there are times the staff will you would expect at a daily. That’s been fun. It’s also here that refuse to comment due to the “pending legal request,” we gener- I’ve really started to play around with voice and just generally ally walk away with more then we would have gotten otherwise, mouth off. At first, I reserved my more loaded language for the being chummy. anonymous news column you see a lot of alt weeklies do. But as When we came back for our second significant story, one we started blogging more frequently, my byline started going into chronicling some scary issues of workplace conditions and worker it and it all just started to blur a bit more. It’s my natural voice, safety, their PR folks turned us over to the legal department and after all. basically refused to play anymore. Fortunately, by then we had Now, if I’m writing short, it’s typically in character, with the great access at the middle-management ranks, thanks to years of unmistakable sound of gum smacking. The news features I treat a declining morale and contentious union negotiations. bit more reverentially. They’re the product of so much work, you While this whole fight was going on, not many had an inkling really want them taken seriously. But, you know, there’s a prune that our outgoing mayor would spring a richly developed in every pot. One deeply researched story I wrote about sprawl sustainability plan on us during his last months in office. That, and the effect that the absence of county controls was having, one coupled with CPS’s startling contract with sustainability guru which also ran in the Austin Chronicle (the alternative weekly in Jeremy Rifkin earlier this year – he was hired to help create a that city), hit a dead end with a local sprawl-busting non-profit. roadmap toward decentralized, carbon-free power for the coming They refused to e-mail it to their membership, a board member decades – have made the power beat a hugely important one for told me later, because it had one unsanitized word in it. Now, I the Current.Ifitis don’t regret the happening in Texas, word choice. It was I’d wager there’s not a It was only after the paper was sold and shut definitely the right utility in the country down that I realized what it was I really word for the occa- that hasn’t started at sion. But it was an least exploring how wanted to do. I have E.O. Wilson’s The Future enlightening experi- it’s going to adjust ence for me. to the coming low- of Life to thank for clearing that up for me. Ultimately, yeah, carbon economy. it’s also been sort of Water issues are huge here, too, and we’ve started to develop scary making this switch. While there have been a couple SEJ those a bit more deeply. And every once in awhile I can break members that have gotten a kick from my writings and have been away to do a little traveling. Last year, I spent three weeks on the crazy encouraging, there are those that judge my approach more U.S.-Mexico border, just meeting people and observing the reali- harshly. This notion that what you’re doing isn’t “proper” ties on La Frontera – reporting, you know, through the lens of the journalism, or worse. If you let your guard down, you can kind of national debate on the border wall. Not many people know that, get walloped by that, especially when some of those that sort of together, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Texas Parks and hold you at arm’s distance have been your role models in so many Wildlife Department have spent tens of millions protecting ways. But without a doubt, my job options have been affected thousands of acres of the most glorious and ecologically diverse positively and negatively by my willingness to become a writer habitat in the country. Now the border wall has begun to slice with an obvious “activist” agenda. through this important wildlife corridor, places where the last Q: Early in your career, you covered WIPP – the deep known populations of ocelots in the States still roam, for instance. geological disposal facility for radioactive waste in southeast- It’s an important national story that, unfortunately, can’t always ern New Mexico – for the paper in Pecos and then for the out-compete the deftly manipulated fear over human migration. much larger Odessa American.AttheAmerican, you also Q: You worked for mainstream newspapers, including covered events at the Huntsman Polymers chemical plant that dailies in Mississippi and Texas, before moving to alternative involved the burning of chemical wastes in flares and protests weeklies in Houston and, now, in San Antonio. Has it been by minority residents nearby. An article you wrote about tough to make the switch from the mainstream to the Huntsman for the Texas Observer, a nationally known alternative press? What are the biggest differences that you’ve biweekly in Austin, won an award from the Association of experienced, especially in your environmental coverage? Alternative Newsweeklies. How did the WIPP and Huntsman A: It has been awkward. In Houston, I really just did straight- stories shape you personally and shape how you view ahead investigative news features, albeit in that strict New Times environmental journalism and your role in the field? mode. [Editor’s note: New Times Media was the name of the A: I think Huntsman was an incredibly defining — and national chain of alternative weekly newspapers. Owner of the empowering — story. I was the roving reporter for the American. Houston Press, New Times took the name Village Voice Media The beat is literally one of the best in Texas, as far as I’m after acquiring that competing chain of alternative papers.] The concerned. Thirteen enormous counties floating over the horizon pressures were intense, but I loved the freedom I suddenly had to off most larger dailies’ radar screens. A feast of stories for the

9 SEJournal Summer 2009 taking. Problem is, not many reporters are willing to live in Odessa those that had lived it first. (or Pecos for that matter). So, it’s a “those who dare” sort of thing. Q: After being laid off at the Houston Press, an alternative On one of my in-office days, the local plastics plant botched weekly, you launched a Web site called Earth Houston and an upgrade to its olefins unit and started burning off huge amounts kept it going for several months. Please describe Earth of polyurethane and whatnot. Someone who would have been Houston and tell me what you hoped to accomplish with it. on-spot to cover it wasn’t there and I ended up on the story. The What did you learn from the experience? black smoke of poor combustion went on for two weeks. Worse You identify yourself on your Linked In profile as an yet, some sort of cold-air inversion trapped it close to the ground investigative reporter and multimedia producer. Your blog, for many of those days. Incredible, awful stuff. Harman on Earth, has links to your videos, photos and audio, Now Huntsman, I think, was our largest employer at the time posted on YouTube, Flickr and Ovi, respectively. There’s also and we gave them hell and got to know those neighborhoods stuck a link to your Twitter comments. When, why and how did you in the thick of it. After a couple weeks, the corporate owners flew get into multimedia work? As part of your Earth Houston down from Utah and asked our publisher to take me off the story. venture or before that? How do you see it meshing with your Now no one had accused us of getting the story wrong. Anyway, role as an investigative reporter? Do you have any advice for the publisher, Bill Salter, told them to stuff it. I had never gone up other journalists about developing the varied multimedia to the line on a story like this before and I honestly hadn’t skills that you’ve acquired? A: First of all, I am not a Facebook baby. My generation was That newspaper adage about already deep into their 20s and 30s when all this social media stuff hit. So, it wasn’t like a part of growing up or anything like that. comforting the afflicted and When I took on Earth Houston a few years ago I didn’t even know afflicting the comfortable ... I just what a blog was. I took an HTML class and pretty much built the thing up from scratch. It was relatively successful in terms of trytolivethat. traffic and got me a little more deeply enmeshed with the environmental community out there, but I simply had no idea what expected the paper to be as ballsy as it was. But there it was. to do about the business end. I just ignored it. I did a bit of free- I’ve seen that same equation several times since then — lance as well, but selling stories has never come easy to me, and egregious examples in Mississippi — and it just sort of took some I eventually had to shut it all down and find steady work. Go of my ideological prejudices and mixed the lime in there and figure that literally in the month or so before I pulled stakes I had cemented whatever it was I thought I knew about environmental two other media folks contact me about working with me on EH. racism from reading other people’s observations. This was also I started my blog only about two years ago. Coming back into about the period that George Jr. was starting to primp himself for the business, I decided that I needed to take a more direct role in the White House, and Odessa became something of a symbol of promoting my work, that I couldn’t leave it to my employer. There his environmental record as Texas governor in some circles. were lots of stories I had written in Odessa and Biloxi, for Q: Are there any other particular stories you’ve handled instance, that were only available to paid subscribers. I wanted (or are covering now) that have done a lot to influence you and those stories up on the Internet and findable. your approach to the job? The video and audio editing I do is also just since joining the A: That newspaper adage about comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable? That was first shared with me by the Folks hate the term branding, but editor of the Mississippi Sun Herald. I just try to live that. You can get a good ways on words like that. Huntsman was a story reporters simply have to have a like that. But, like I said, West Texas is that story. The crap builds up where the money and influence is not. I enter every story with presence online these days. bias. It is the bias that urges me to first seek out the point of view Current. A lot of it I have taught myself. Some trickier elements of those who can’t afford to hire a communications company. our old IT guy down here helped me with. But with the economy Then I’ll get on the paper trail and see if I can substantiate what of this last year I really did start sweating. So many better and I’ve been told. Once I have that, then I’ll open myself to the more experienced writers were getting canned. I thought, what company line. else am I qualified to do? The answer is nothing. So I’ve just dug There was a Seabee base in Gulfport with a legacy of in a little bit deeper, tried to make sure everything I do for the mishandled and dumped Agent Orange that reminded me a bit of Current is available online somewhere. Folks hate the term brand- that time in Odessa. Now, the residents had complained for years ing, but reporters simply have to have a presence online these about supposed ill effects, but their story had never been really days. At least folks of more middling talent like myself do, I think. told. I spent time in those neighborhoods. It turned out the Navy You want to be available in plain sight, for whatever story had done the best surveys and cancer studies itself. It was all opportunity comes up. sitting in the library. The Navy documents showed they actually Q: You had a job involving wildlife rescue and rehabilita- had to hire counselors for the contractors who went door-to-door tion work near San Antonio between your work at the hearing all these horror stories. As I put all that together, I found Houston Press and San Antonio Current? What did you do? old news clippings reporting a rash of stillbirths and birth defects Did that job influence your decision to try to keep working in we now know to be linked to dioxin exposure. It was a relatively journalism? Were there times when you seriously thought easy story to assemble in the end, but I had to be willing to trust about getting out of journalism for good? What made you

10 SEJournal Summer 2009 decide to persist? Any advice for other journalists, based on your own experiences? A: In 10 years, I had been cut adrift twice. The website, a feat Photographer had a passion to speak of the heart, hadn’t fared any better than my more heady moves with the papers. I was pretty fed up. I wasn’t willing to go back to for those without a voice daily work if that meant covering a small-town council or chamber ribbon cuttings. I had found my stream on the eco beat, I felt. Off and on over those years, though, I had wondered about non-profit work, about advocacy. Would it be a better fit? I finally decidedtogiveitashot. Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation offered me a position as their director of advocacy and education. They loved, for instance, that I’d been vegetarian for a dozen years. That turned out to be a requirement for the job. I don’t know where that sits with Equal Opportunity law, but I wasn’t asking those sorts of questions. I stayed for only seven months. I guess I would say if anyone out there is exploring the advocacy option, think hard. These groups are not only far more competitive and nasty with each other than Ramón Mena Owens I had realized, but the personality factor can’t be overstated, Nov. 3, 1960-May 21, 2009 especially if you don’t have strong board oversight, as was the case with WRR. Ramón Mena Owens, photojournalist and long-time SEJ I had connected with the editor of the San Antonio Current member, died May 21 of a heart attack at age 48. while I was freelancing out of Houston. I started to contribute Born in Tillamook, Ore., Ramón served in the Navy and again. When a slot opened, I leapt for it. I told my boss, Elaine then attended Ohio University School of Journalism in Athens, Wolff, at the time: I still have a lot of writing left to do. I only hope Ohio, graduating in 1985. He started his photojournalism that the forces guiding the market and our industry will allow all career as an intern at The Boston Globe, and worked at The who feel similarly to have that kind of opportunity. Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A traveler and a free spirit, in the 1980s he traveled to Bill Dawson is assistant editor of the SEJournal. El Salvador and Honduras, starting a career in international jour- nalism and hardening his resolve against war and for peace. In- justice bit at him, and he was driven to document that in an effort to make the world a better place. In 1998, he moved to Colorado and started a freelance pho- tography business. In 2005 he headed to California, where he worked for the Desert Sun and the Press-Enterprise.Hecov- ered Hurricane Katrina, wildfires, and homelessness in the Cal- ifornia desert communities. After downsizing last September at the Press-Enterprise,hestartedBack in Green,a blog for environmental reportage. Ramón described his life’s mission as “speaking for those who have no voice.” He had a knack for putting people he was photographing at ease with his humor and warm smile. He won numerous awards for his work, which focused on environmen- tal issues and social problems: the AP Photographer of the Year Award in Ohio, a Ford environmental photography fellowship from the International Center for Journalists in Ecuador (2003), a Knight Fellowship in Armenia (2003), and a Best of Gannett Award in 2005 for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He was also awarded two SEJ fellowships. His work appears in the Smithsonian Museum of American History, in which he documented the lives of Hispanics in America; and in several books. See backingreen.com and rmophoto.com for examples of his powerful photography. Donations to local homeless shelters or food kitchens, local humane societies, and the American Red Cross would honor Ramón’s memory.

11 SEJournal Summer 2009 E-Reporting Biz Amid the fear and fretting,

By BUD WARD an idea for journalism’s future Each week, I am party and witness to the loss of cumulative We establish a climate change news syndicate, consisting decades of environmental journalism experience shown the door as initially of, let’s say, a dozen outstanding, but recently laid-off, the pink-slipping of newspaper newsrooms continues seemingly experienced environmental journalists, all with some impressive without end. level of competency in reporting on climate science and policy. Stop there. There is no reason. No one gains, to overstate the Through a grant, we would commission those 12 individuals to situation. It’s the slow, incessant drip-drip death-by-a-thousand- write a set number – let’s say eight, to start – of regionally and cuts that is sidelining countless years of environmental journalism locally based climate impact stories. One every six or seven weeks experience and expertise. perhaps. These would be original reporting pieces, reflecting The painful point is that amidst the widespread newsroom incisive sourcing built from each individual’s own years of carnage, years of well-established reporting expertise is in danger experience on the story. of going unused or, at best, under-utilized. It’s the case from Each reporter who is part of this de facto climate news syndicate Seattle to Gainesville and in-between. At household-name media would be fairly, but handsomely, compensated for the effort. What’s organizations and at the specialized feeder news outlets often a fair rate of an 800-word news story? $1,000? $1,200 maybe? earliest on the story, the losses continue. Once reported, written, and edited, the author of each of these Try calling a daily newspaper reporter you know well but reports is next charged with helping the syndicator — SEJ? haven’t spoken to in a few months. Open with the casual throw- My own Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media away “How are you doing?” or “How have you been?” greeting. (http://climatemediaforum.yale.edu )? A combination of these and/or The silence can be telling. The question has new meaning, others would place the piece in a prominent local news outlet. Perhaps however unintended, in today’s mainstream newsrooms under the pink-slipped reporter’s own prior employer, given the continuing unrelenting threat of “down-sizing,” “out-sourcing.” goodwill presumed to exist in at least some of these instances. Amidst the cacophony of journalism chaos and reporters There’s more. The reporter then is charged with going the fretting, and rightly so, about their personal futures, things like “10 local talk-show route in her or his circulation area, talking up the Reasons You Should Hire a Journalist” – clearly aimed at non- original report just played so prominently in the local media. Here journalism employers – become staples on journalism listserves. too, there’s compensation: Reporters succeeding in conducting The latest bloodletting of reporters and editors becomes the stuff of such on-air interviews are further rewarded, beyond the original web site and listserv navel-gazing. price for their work. Worthy and important ideas surface and resurface, ad infini- Okay. It addresses “only” climate change. And it doesn’t tum. Calls for a journalism summit — what can we do about this make up for the lost job security, or the health care coverage, for journalism mess we find ourselves in — raise hope. But not until the retirement plans and paid vacation leave. It’s not meant to. scores more jobs, and perhaps entire news outlets, bite the dust, Instead, it’s meant to help those displaced but outstanding and more decades of reporting expertise head elsewhere. reporters buy time. It’s meant to help them continue doing what So, what to do when hand-wringing alone is not sufficient? only they can do well in their communities: provide honest, fact- What to do — not in 2010 or 2011, but now — about the undone based independent journalism on a pressing local, regional, stories we’ll never know we’ve missed, the snipping of frail threads national and international story needing badly to be told. supporting an informed citizenry? And it’s meant to continue providing the public what it most More talk, more navel-gazing, more planning for a needs at a time when it most needs it, pink-slipping notwithstanding. summit…they’re all needed. But alone, and even in combination, A good idea? Some merits? None? Have at it. Make it better. they’re just not enough. Along with the fretting and commiserat- Pan it entirely. But let’s not do nothing; hand-wringing alone ing, we need action. Acting now to salvage some of what we’ll simply is not enough. otherwise lose from recent pink slips and whatever else lurks Let’s not let the next announcement of more newsroom layoffs around the next corner. – and those inevitably still to come after that next one – generate Take climate change, as an example. The issue, of course, is a only more hand-wringing and soul-searching. Let’s greet such bad personal hobby horse of mine over the past few years. The fore- news, instead, with a resolve to act, to do something and not merely most environmental/economic development/national security issue fret about what a shame. of the century, we’re told and have often told ourselves. And with Party. And witness. As the latter, I cannot be excused for long the Obama administration and leading congressional politicians before becoming complicit – before becoming, in effect, party to moving forward on an action plan in advance of a (we’re told) sem- the newsroom bloodbaths. I can only be witness for so long before inal December 2009 Copenhagen conference, the time is now for I must accept the blame and guilt of having become party…and intense journalistic attention. therefore complicit. And you? So picture this, as just one potential future journalistic model, one I hope that can attract credible independent foundation fund- Bud Ward is an independent journalist, educator and founder/ ing, for SEJ or a collaboration of journalism partners…anyone who former editor of Environment Writer.HeiseditoroftheYale can make it happen: Forum on Climate Change & the Media. 12 SEJournal Summer 2009 13 SEJournal Summer 2009 Reporter’s Toolbox

The easy way to do cool stuff online, mostly for free

By DANIEL LATHROP

On the Internet no one can hear you scream. gallery, the photo gallery set to sound, the photo gallery with Which is a good thing, because for a lot of journalists, the ever- narration, the photo and video presentation, the slide show the user changing landscape of Web technology is the continuing-ed equiv- navigates, the slide show that plays as a video, even an edited video alent of Whack-a-Mole. As soon as we learn something, it is package is a kind of slide show. In fact, when it comes to combin- immediately replaced by something else totally different. ing words, sounds and images, the slide show is beginning, middle (Question: Which of the following is not a social media or micro- and end. blogging service? A. Twitter B. InstaPost C. Ning) So this has gotta be hard, right? It can be. But we can do it the easy way. Yes. We. Can. The easy way? It’s called SlideRocket (sliderocket.com). This is my slide show tool. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My tool is my best friend.

TIP: There are three ways to do anything online: the hard way, the wrong way and the easy way. The hard way can generally be used to accomplish twice as much as the easy way, but it takes ten times the time and effort. SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: The following advice may cause your colleagues, editors and audience to view you as a multimedia wunderkind. Do not disa- SlideRocket is billed as a tool for preparing business presen- buse them of this notion and do not tell them how easy it was. tations, an online analog to Microsoft PowerPoint. In fact, if you When they asked how you learned it, tell them“SEJ”and do not know how to use PowerPoint, you can create a slide show in elaborate. Suggest that your colleagues join and your editor pays PowerPoint, then upload it to SlideShow and make it available for dues, conferences, travel or a new laptop. online as a Flash application or Flash video embedded in a Webpage.

What is an ink-stained (or video-stained, pixel-stained or link- VOCAB: Flash is a technology from Adobe Systems used to stained ) wretch to do? You could scream. Go ahead, let it out. Feel create online animations and videos. It can have complicated better? I didn’t think so. interactivity or be as simple as play/pause/stop. It The next option is to find some tricks that work for you and is the default standard for video and multimedia can be repeated over and over again to good effect. In the on the Web. Adobe makes expensive software for Commedia dell’arte these are called lazzi; those of us with a touch authoring and editing Flash applications and of Yiddishkeit call them schtick. A few good pieces of schtick and you’re never lost for what to do or say. videos. These are the hard way. The following guide is by no means complete, but for the topics we cover, it gives you everything you need. Every tool is free, although some are all free and some are just mostly free. It How easy is it? Very easy. You can upload photos or videos, doesn’t take Miracle Max to know that there is a big difference you can create transition effects, you can add sound clips to between mostly free and all free, but that is just the way of the world. individual slides or take a music or sound file and set it as a If you want multimedia to accompany a story (or to be the story), soundtrack for the entire presentation. You can decide whether to there are three basic gadgets on your utility belt: slide shows, charts have each slide automatically advance after a certain number of and Google (or Yahoo) maps. seconds or wait for the user to click “next,” you can choose from SLIDE SHOWS several attractive visual styles. It’s all done on the SlideRocket Web The genre of the slide show contains many variations: the photo page, and if you get confused they have tutorials and instructional

14 SEJournal Summer 2009 videos. When you’re done, click publish and e-mail the code it It really is that scary. Copy, paste and click. Could it be generates to a Web producer to embed in a page. easier? Yes. How much easier? Not much easier. Are tables of words and numbers the sexiest way to display information? No, but they are often the best way to do it, so don’t be ashamed. Your readers will thank you. NOW MAPS And finally we get the apogee on Web coolness: the Google Map. OK, so Google Maps are no longer the most amazing, mind- blowing thing ever (that’s Twitter), but they’re still darn cool and people think they’re hard. In fact, doing them the right way is hard. VOCAB: Search engine optimization, SEO to its friends, is But we don’t use the “right” way, do we, my young apprentice? No, we use the way that is quicker, easier and more seductive. the sometimes dark art of making content more likely to be First put the address and information into Excel in rows and found when a user searches for it. In other words, it’s how to columns. If you can, put the address, city, state and zip code each make Google find your stuff. Google can’t index words if they’re in their own column. You can create a column for the name, the date, an explanation or any other kind of information. Make sure in a picture, and neither can your Web site’s own search engine. to use simple column headings. SEO is a giant topic in itself, complete with folk wisdom, urban Next, go to BatchGeocode (batchgeocode.com). Leave the legends, sophisticated technology and flat out scams. Just format on “Tab Delimited.” Copy your data from Excel into the Web form. Click “Validate Source”. Scroll down and check out Google it, and you’ll see. which fields it is using for which information and fiddle with that as necessary. By changing the “Group” field, you can color-code points in different ways. What’s the catch? SlideRocket is mostly free, but not all free. It’s Click “Run Geocoder.” free to create an account, and you get a limited period in which all Under the map that appears, click the “Download to Google the features are available. After that, to be able to put your Slide- Earth (KML) File.” Save it as something ending in “.kml”. Rocket on a Web page, you need an individual subscription ($10 Send this file to a Web producer and ask them to save it to a per month) or a business subscription ($20 per month for each Web accessible location and send you back the URL. user). Once your boss is hooked on your multimedia slide shows, Go to Google Maps (maps.google.com). Paste the URL for she’ll be happy to fork over $20 per month to keep them coming. your KML file into the search box and click “Search Maps”. Tell her it is a copyright license fee for the best-of-breed, cloud- The map should now display. Click the “Link” button in the based software as a service application you are utilizing to upper right hand corner of the map. Click “Customize and produce synergistic results with outsourced infrastructure. preview embedded map,” then play with the resulting control TABLES panel until you’re happy. Copy the code from “Copy and paste Next is a cheap trick that is sure to please. You have a story. You this HTML to embed in your website” and email it to a producer. have some information that would make a great chart with the You’re done. story. You’ve put those data into Microsoft Excel (or similar spreadsheet program). But if you send it to New Media or Daniel Lathrop is co-founder of and chief data evangelist for Graphics, they’ll kick back a jpeg that looks goofy online and does InvestigateWest, a Seattle-based non-profit investigative report- a bad job of search engine optimization. ing start-up that focuses on the issues and stories of western North This trick is Tableizer (tableizer.journalistopia.com), and for America. He freelances for non-profit and journalism clients. creating it, Danny Sanchez of the Orlando Sentinel (hisblogisat Lathrop is lead author and editor of a forthcoming book from journalistopia.com) deserves the Pulitzer Prize for Kindness to O’Reilly Media on Government 2.0. He has worked as a reporter Strangers. Tableizer lets you copy a bunch of cells out of Excel, and/or data wizard at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Center paste them into a simple Web form, click submit and get back the for Public Integrity, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and The (complicated and time-consuming to create) code to render that Ames (Iowa) Tribune. He lives in Seattle, Wash., with his wife and table on the Web. two Maine Coon cats.

WARNING: Do not use Tableizer for things that wouldn’t be a table in print. Remember, if it’s too big to read or too hard to read, the audience won’t. My rule of thumb? More than 10 rows SEJ Members in a table or more than four columns, and you might want to think hard about it. More than 100 rows or more than six Visit and modify your columns, and you’re nuts. profile in the member directory www.sej.org

15 SEJournal Summer 2009 The Beat

In these hard times, enviro stories take major prizes, honors

By BILL DAWSON

Wildfires. Toxic chemicals in everyday life. Rust and Kissinger have pursued the Lax federal regulation. Overseas dumping of story. The lead on a story published May 16: U.S. waste. Coal ash. “As federal regulators hold fast to their claim Coverage of those environmental subjects by that a chemical in baby bottles is safe, a variety of news outlets was honored e-mails obtained by the Journal Sentinel show recently in three major national journalism that they relied on chemical industry lobbyists competitions – the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes, 2008 to examine bisphenol A’s risks, track legislation George Polk Awards and the 2008 Sigma to ban it and even monitor press coverage.” Delta Chi Awards of the Society of Professional Journalists. The Pulitzer and SPJ winners were ***** announced in April, the Polk winners in February. Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times won the Pulitzer for ***** explanatory reporting for a five-part series, “Big Reporters of the Milwaukee Journal Burn,” which examined the growth and cost Sentinel won the Polk Award for environmental of wildfires. reporting and were cited as finalists for inves- The Pulitzer citation recognized the tigative reporting by the Pulitzer judges for their series “Chemical pair “for their fresh and painstaking exploration into the cost and Fallout.” The examination of hazardous chemicals in everyday effectiveness of attempts to combat the growing menace of wild- products last year had won the John B. Oakes Award for Distin- fires across the western United States.” guished Environmental Journalism and the SPJ award for non- The Associated Press reported that the reporters “spent 15 deadline reporting by a large newspaper. months on their series, interviewing scores of firefighters and Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger were praised by the Polk contractors, sifting through 43 plastic tubs of financial documents, judges for “castigating the Environmental Protection Agency and traveling as far afield as Australia.” (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to Boxall and Cart reported in the lead article: “A century after monitor, regulate and ultimately ban toxins found in everyday the government declared war on wildfire, fire is gaining the upper materials, from ‘microwave safe’ plastics to baby bottles. Their hand. From the canyons of California to the forests of the Rocky reports about chemicals such as bisphenol A, or BPA, which causes Mountains and the grasslands of Texas, fires are growing bigger, neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals, fiercer and costlier to put out. And there is no end in sight.” reverberated from the halls of Congress to homes and schools Highlights of subsequent series installments: across America.”  Fire commanders “are often pressured to order firefighting Pulitzer judges cited Rust and Kissinger “for their powerful planes and helicopters into action even when they won’t do revelations that the government was failing to protect the public any good.” from dangerous chemicals in everyday products, such as some  “More and more Americans are moving into fire-prone ‘microwave-safe’ containers, stirring action by Congress and canyons and woodlands” where inadequate roads mean that “in a federal agencies.” wildfire, everyone may not be able to get out safely.” The series reported these key findings:  Threatening to transform “the cultural imagery of the  “U.S. regulators promised a decade ago to screen more West,” a fire cycle fueled by non-native plants “is wiping than 15,000 chemicals for effects on the endocrine system. So far, sagebrush from vast stretches of the Great Basin.” not one has been screened.”  “Wildfire is a pervasive danger in Australia, just as in much  “The government’s proposed tests lack new measures that of the Western U.S.,” but many Australians protect lives and prop- would spot dangerous chemicals older screens could miss.” erty themselves instead of relying on professional firefighters.  “Hundreds of products have been banned in countries around the world but are available here without warning.” *****

16 SEJournal Summer 2009 A “60 Minutes” segment on the dumping of electronic wastes satisfy the White House.” in China won two top prizes for CBS News’ long-running news- In a March follow-up story, the three Inquirer staff members magazine show – the Polk Award for television reporting and the reported that the Obama administration intended to close down an SPJ award for television investigative reporting in the category EPA program called “Green Club” that they had highlighted in the for networks, syndication services and program services. series. They said the Green Club was an effort “by the Bush Sharing the award for “The Wasteland” were correspondent Administration that rewards voluntary pollution controls by Scott Pelley, producer Solly Granatstein and co-producer hundreds of corporations with reduced environmental inspections Nicole Young. and less stringent regulation, according to EPA sources and According to the Polk Awards announcement, “the trio internal emails.” divulged how some American companies that are paid to recycle The “Smoke and Mirrors” investigation had found that “the electronic waste have instead dumped it in China, which has led program lauded companies with suspect environmental records, to environmental despoliation and severe health risks. After the spent millions on recruiting and publicity and failed to independ- ‘60 Minutes’ crew tracked a Denver recycling company’s ship- ently confirm members’ environmental pledges” and “became so ment to southern China, the firm lost its contract and the EPA desperate to find new members...that it turned to gift shops and began investigating dozens of other suspect recycling businesses.” post offices to pad its numbers.” In announcing the award, CBS News said that “60 Minutes ventured to one of the most toxic places on Earth — a town in ***** China where you can’t breathe the air or drink the water, a town As The Beat noted in the last issue of SEJournal, local and where the blood of the children is laced with lead. regional news organizations earned positive notice for their “Much of the poison is coming out of the homes, schools and attention to the massive coal ash spill that occurred last December offices of America. The story is about how your best intentions to when a Tennessee Valley Authority dam collapsed and buried be green can be channeled into an underground sewer that flows homes and farmland. from the United States and into the wasteland. That wasteland is Coverage by one news outlet, WBIR TV 10 of Knoxville, piled with the burning remains of some of the most expensive, Tenn., the city’s NBC affiliate, won the SPJ award for breaking sophisticated stuff that consumers crave. And Pelley discovered news coverage by a small market television station. Honored were that the gangs who run the place wanted to keep it a secret.” the Gannett station’s Alison Morrow, Gerry Owens and John Martin. ***** Investigations that spotlighted regulatory shortcomings at the Bill Dawson is assistant editor of the SEJournal. EPA earned recognition for reporters at two news organizations. Douglas P. Guarino of Inside EPA won SPJ’s award for public service in newsletter journalism. An entry from John Shiffman, John Sullivan and Tom Avril of the Philadelphia Inquirer was named as a Pulitzer finalist for national reporting. Guarino was honored “for articles detailing EPA plans to weaken drinking water cleanup standards in the event of a ‘dirty’ bomb attack,” according to an announcement of the SPJ award in Inside EPA. The newsletter said that Guarino’s reporting “is responsible, at least in part, for an increased public focus on EPA’s decision-making over the policy,” which the Obama administra- tion put on hold pending further review. In January 2008, Guarino’s initial story on the issue was head- lined “Draft EPA Nuclear Guide May Weaken Superfund Removal Standards.” Follow-up stories in April 2008 were headlined “EPA Nuclear Emergency Guide Prompts Alarm Among Agency Staff, States” and “EPA Plans to Limit Access To New Guide For Chemical Emergencies.” The Pulitzer judges cited Shiffman, Sullivan and Avril of the Inquirer “for their exhaustive reports on how political interests have eroded the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency and placed the nation’s environment in greater jeopardy, setting the stage for remedial action.” In an introductory blurb to the online version of the “Smoke and Mirrors” project, the Inquirer said that the “four-part series details how the Bush administration weakened the EPA. It installed a pliant agency chief, Stephen L. Johnson. Under him, the EPA created pro-industry regulations later thrown out by courts. It PHOTO © ROGER ARCHIBALD promoted a flawed voluntary program to fight climate change. It “A century after the government declared war on wildfire, fire is gaining the upper hand,” the Los Angeles Times reported in a Pulitzer Prize bypassed air pollution recommendations from its own scientists to winning series.

17 SEJournal Summer 2009 Feature Photograph images cap global warm advance

One records glaci cameras on an ho another compare

PHOTO © BRADFORD WASHBURN, COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ARCHIVES with glacial pictur Bradford Washburn’s 1938 photograph of the Shoup Glacier where it makes an abrupt turn west of Valdez, Alaska. By ROGER AR

Two different photographers from different backgrounds have as well, especially the effort led by James Balog. taken remarkably different approaches to document what is Balog is founder and director of the Extreme Ice Survey perhaps the most distinguishing visible evidence of global climate (http://www.extremeicesurvey.org ), which uses a multitude of change: The retreat of the earth’s great glaciers. remote cameras recording minute glacial motions at 15 One of the projects is expeditionary in scope, gathering image different sites in Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and the Rocky data on an hourly basis from dozens of remotely operated Mountains. Balog has gone beyond photography to become the cameras strategically placed at key locations throughout the leader of what amounts to a major arctic and alpine expedition. northern hemisphere. “My entire adult life has come together in this project,” he states The other is primarily the effort of one individual who set without hesitation, referring to his thirty years as a professional out to take a second look at specific glacial locations in Alaska environmental photographer. and the Alps that were first photographed in magnificent detail Like many others of that calling, his career arose out of decades ago by one of America’s last great explorers. dissatisfaction with a prior vocation — in Balog’s case, one “mis- Together, the resulting photography from both projects erable” year as a soils engineer for which he had trained by earn- reinforces the same unavoidable conclusion: the ice is melting, in ing a masters degree in geomorphology at the University of some places very fast; and the world’s glaciers are in a state of Colorado. But rather than geology, it was the outdoors and moun- significant withdrawal. taineering, to which he’d first been exposed as a student at the While these two particular investigators using imagery are Colorado Outward Bound School, which primarily drew him to hardly the first to draw public attention to this precipitous Boulder, where he remains still. And there was that desire to environmental predicament (longtime SEJ member Gary Braasch record what he was experiencing while climbing mountains, like has been photographing the climate story almost exclusively for so many others, that initially attracted him to photography. over ten years now — see sidebar), the visual evidence they’ve As one of only a few in the late 1970s practicing what has amassed — in one case, over many decades; in the other, over now come to be known as adventure photography, Balog got a sometimes only a few minutes—leaves a powerful impression that major career boost with an assignment from Smithsonian to shoot only pictures can convey. But beyond visual impact, both the fixed a story on avalanche control. Before that, he’d relied on viewpoints and the temporal elements of the work of both carpentry and mountain guiding to help make ends meet. But in transcend mere visual representation to provide quantitative data the years that followed, his photography took him in unpredictable

18 SEJournal Summer 2009 hers’ pture ming’s

ers with remote ourly basis, while s current images

res from past PHOTO © DAVID ARNOLD, USED WITH PERMISSION When re-photographed in 2007 from the same spot by David Arnold almost 70 years later, the Shoup Glacier had RCHIBALD retreated approximately five miles.

directions that, while adventurous in their own right, hardly fit the that Balog would approach his most recent project as something established genre of adventure photography. demanding far more than one man with a camera. In fact, besides Five of his seven books to date have been devoted to wildlife, its 27 time-lapse cameras at 15 different hemispheric-wide loca- not in the usual context of nature, but more often serving to illus- tions, the Extreme Ice Survey lists a staff of 35, and major support trate the complex relations and behaviors that exist between the from such organizations as National Geographic, Nikon, the human and natural worlds. Wildlife Requiem in 1984 explored the National Science Foundation and NASA. intricacies of hunting; Survivors in 1990 depicted endangered The goal is to document what global warming is doing to the species not in the wild, but against seamless studio backdrops, or planet where it’s most vulnerable to temperature change — at such other surroundings as the center ring of a circus; and his nude natural accretion points of snow and ice. And toward that end, the pictures of apes and humans interacting in discrete ways in Anima project not only “provides scientists with crucial data on the speed in 1993 were nevertheless so provocative that he couldn’t find a and extent of glacial retreat,” according to its website, but publisher, and ultimately had to publish the book himself. additional photography and video shot at the various glacial The advent of digital photography presented Balog with the locations “celebrates the otherworldly beauty of ice-cloaked land- opportunity to make a groundbreaking image of a giant sequoia scapes”—areferencetosuchformationsasglaciallakesand tree in California that would have been almost impossible, or at rivers found atop the Greenland ice sheet, and the eerily blue least prohibitively expensive, on film. Suspended at various points precipitous caverns called moulins through which melt water can within a network of climbing ropes rigged to a height equal to the abruptly drain to the base of the glacier far below. subject tree nearby, he shot hundreds of pictures, each one framed It is toward these latter phenomena that the sentiments and horizontally level and encompassing only a small portion of the sensibilities of James Balog — the mountaineer and photographer entire tree before him. The resulting image created by electroni- — are principally drawn. “To me, the story is not in the cally stitching all the constituent pictures together into a mosaic science, it’s in the art,” he explained to NPR’s Terry Gross. “It’s with almost schematic symmetry appeared on the cover of his not about computer models or statistical projections. This is the 2004 book Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest, and is quite real living thing, proof of climate change happening right now.” simply a view never before seen of one of the world’s largest Referring to the experience of descending deep into a moulin, living things. he continued, “Nobody’s ever seen a sight like that before. It With such a background, it should come as no great surprise brings to the human eye and mind and heart a sense of grandeur

19 SEJournal Summer 2009 and majesty and exploration and novelty that people don’t expect recorded the plane’s course, speed, heading and location at the from something as abstract and distant as the Greenland ice sheet precise moment of each exposure. ... I feel like I’m witnessing something that no normal human His efforts ultimately produced the definitive map of Alaska’s should have a chance to witness.” Mt. McKinley. But beyond cartography, his photographs were striking works of art. “Epic in scale yet intimate in detail and From reporter to image-maker shadings, they are more like portraits of individual mountains than Quite in contrast to the focused momentum of the Extreme landscapes,” the Boston Globe reported in its obituary of Ice Survey, David Arnold came to the task of documenting glacial Washburn, following his death at 96 in 2007. retreat almost by accident. In fact, he was not even previously David Arnold continued to report on Washburn’s activities recognized as a photographer. During his 25 year career as a until he left the Globe, and kept in touch afterwards, even buying reporter for the Boston Globe, a print of what’s considered to union rules actually prohibited be Washburn’s iconic image — him from even picking up a a 1960 view of the Doldenhorn camera on the job. in the Swiss Alps being But after taking a buy-out in traversed by a distant group of 2003, he turned to freelancing climbers. Driving home after- and discovered editors appreci- ward with his new purchase, ated writers who could provide Arnold remembers wondering art with their copy, especially what the mountain might look video clips to augment web site like now. content. So he brushed up on That was the impetus for his visual skills he hadn’t used since Double Exposure project graduate work in graphic design (http://www.doublexposure.net ): and the first two years of his to re-photograph from the exact journalism career when he was a same spot in the sky a number page designer. of the mountains and glaciers As a reporter in 1982, Washburn had photographed

Arnold was assigned to cover a PHOTO BY BOB REEVE, © BRANDFORD WASHBURN,decades COURTESY PANOPTICON GALLERY, BOSTON earlier, then to compare story about Bradford Washburn, the two images to reveal how legendary mountaineer, explorer time and climate had changed and founder of the Boston the face of the earth. In addition Museum of Science who had to cartography, “Washburn’s recently retired after forty years goal had been to artistically as its director. Appropriately, capture the earth on film simi- they first met atop Mt. Washing- lar to his old friend Ansel ton, New England’s highest Adams, particularly confronta- point, where Washburn and his tions of natural forces,” Arnold wife Barbara were busy collect- wrote in the Boston Globe in ing measurements to produce a 2006. (“I just took a picture highly detailed map of New when I thought it was worth Hampshire’s Presidential Range. taking,” Washburn admitted.) It was not the first such “My goal was to illustrate a effort for Washburn. As far back chapter of the global climate as his youth in the 1920s, he’d story as told by retreating ice.” embraced the craft of cartogra- When approached with the phy after seeing skillfully idea, Washburn was “skeptical shaded and nuanced lithographic PHOTO COURTESY DAVID ARNOLD that there’d been any changes,” contour maps in Europe during a TOP: Bradford Washburn at Valdez, Alaska, in 1937, roped into the back of a Arnold remembers, “but he gave summer trek to the Alps. He Fairchild 71 aircraft with his 50-pound Fairchild K-6 aerial camera. BOTTOM: me his blessing.” Armed with became determined to create David Arnold used a light helicopter and a 2-pound Cambo WDS 4”x5” film that support, he raised enough maps of similar quality of camera to photograph his Double Exposure project between 2005 and 2007. funding through private donors America’s great mountains. To and foundations in Boston to accomplish that, he first needed high-resolution aerial photographs cover the expense of three trips to Alaska and two to the Alps, as taken from a number of different known points around an area to well as obtain a hand-held 4”x5” camera in which he shot sheet be mapped. In the decades between the 1930s and 1960s, rather black & white film. Altogether, he was able to replicate 14 of than just climb mountains in the Alps and Alaska, he devoted his Washburn’s decades-old originals from almost the exact same efforts to photographing them as well. Strapped into the back door airborne vantage points, despite significant delays due to of a small aircraft flying up to 20,000 feet, he operated a 50 pound inclement weather. “It’s not easy chasing the shadow of Brad hand-held camera loaded with nine-inch-wide film, while Barbara Washburn,” Arnold ultimately concluded.

20 SEJournal Summer 2009 Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh). Both projects also solicit public support to help fund their ongoing activities. The Extreme Ice Survey seeks tax deductible charitable contributions through the Wild Foundation, which serves as its fiscal agent, while Double Exposure offers four Extreme Ice Survey different levels of corporate sponsorship. director James Balog In line with its magnitude, the Extreme Ice Survey has also rappelling into a moulin generated a National Geographic story and book, a PBS Nova on the Greenland ice sheet, a vertical cavern Special, numerous awards and its own special feature on etched by meltwater on Google Maps, where each of its far-flung camera sites can be the surface of a glacier decisively pinpointed. And director Balog seems tireless in draining to its base. promoting the project to any interested audience, from the Boulder Public Library to a luncheon gathering of House staffers on Capitol Hill to the Climate Congress last March in Copenhagen.

PHOTO: © JAMES BALOG / EXTREME ICE SURVEY But despite their divergent approaches, the efforts of both James Balog and David Arnold seem to have been inspired by Sending a similar message the same motivation that led Bradford Washburn to turn his The fruits of both James Balog’s and David Arnold’s efforts considerable energies from adventure and mountaineering seventy are not simply residing passively on web sites; both are actively years ago and instead build a world-class museum of science. circulating their work to as many audiences as they can reach. And “The great majority of our visitors probably will never be scien- some of the approaches they’re taking are instructive to journal- tists,” he was quoted as saying in his Boston Globe obituary in ists concerned about how their messages will be disseminated in 2007, “but they will be better lawyers, businessmen, clergymen, the future. scoutmasters, parents and citizens because of this fascinating Rather than publications, both projects initially relied on glimpse of the wonders which lie constantly hidden on all sides of exhibitions to report their results. The Extreme Ice Survey was every one of us.” featured at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science last fall, while Double Exposure commenced a tour that premiered last spring, naturally, at the Boston Museum of Science, and will travel Roger Archibald ( www.NaturalArch.com) is a freelance photogra- to six other venues by the end of 2010 (next stop: The Carnegie pher and writer based in Boston and photo editor of the SEJournal.

Gary Braasch covers climate 1998,” he says, the same year he joined SEJ. in both words and photos That career commenced in traditional journalism. Following a graduate degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journal- By ROGER ARCHIBALD ism, Braasch spent a year in the UPI’s Chicago bureau before serving three years in the Air Force toward the end of the Vietnam The glacial retreat photography of both James Balog and War. At Andrews Air Force Base, the home of Air Force One, he David Arnold exemplifies a growing trend in depicting environ- availed himself of the cultural opportunities as well as witnessing mental issues that has come to be known as environmental photo- many of the historical events in Washington during that period. journalism. An increasing number of nature photographers, Upon discharge, he became a freelance writer specializing in concerned about the deterioration they’re witnessing within the natural history and relocated to the Pacific Northwest. natural world, are being drawn into its ranks. Along the way, he’d picked up a camera for photos to Many of them formed the International League of Conserva- accompany the writing he was submitting to publications on such tion Photographers in 2005, which has since mounted five separate subjects as old growth forests. But he soon noticed that “editors Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions to document threatened were more interested in the pictures than the stories.” Going with environments at various places in the world (see SEJournal, that flow, he concluded, “It was worth putting my entire effort into Summer 2008). Taking a far more activist approach than any the power of my photography.” preceding photography organization, the imagery resulting from The first major fruits of that effort resulted in a cover and port- the ILCP’s RAVEs is purposefully used to advance their goal of folio in Popular Photography in 1977, but the 1980 eruption of environmental protection. Mt. St Helens just north of his Oregon home made Braasch the Most working environmental photojournalists, like James go-to guy for coverage of that subject, the aftermath of which he Balog, started out as nature photographers, then were drawn into still follows. Major assignments ensued, including an environ- journalism by the desire to mediate what they were discovering. A mental series for Life Magazine for which he spent three weeks lesser number, like David Arnold, started out as traditional jour- aloft in a single rain forest tree. nalists and turned to photography to advance their writing. The climate story has led him to 22 countries and all seven Perhaps the exemplar of the profession is Gary Braasch, who continents, much of it self-assigned and self-financed beyond two has followed both paths. This year marks his 10th anniversary (if media fellowships he received from the National Science Foun- that’s the right word) of covering the climate, in both words and dation to support work in Alaska and Antarctica. In 2007, his work photographs. “I’ve made it the strong focus of my career since continued on page 25 21 SEJournal Summer 2009 SEJ News

We’ve MOVED ! Five women move a mountain ... and end up in the trees PHOTO BY LINDA L. S. KNOUSE It took days to make a path through the central room of the new SEJ office. By LINDA L.S. KNOUSE

Have you ever wondered about the SEJ office? Where is it? us, armed with our new office specifications. The recession made What does it look like? How many people work there? it a “buyer’s market” and a great location was found to house the When you call the SEJ office you hear, “SEJ, Chris Rigel,” or staff and possessions of SEJ — forlessrent. Horray recession! “SEJ office, this is Linda,” or “SEJ office, Candy speaking, how Then came the battle of attorneys vs. lease language before can I help you?” If that’s all you know about the SEJ office, the our executive director pronounced a done deal. following will be an eye-opener. Like a line of ants, SEJ staff began to carry boxes and bags filled For many years the SEJ office has been in a second-floor suite with papers to the recycle dumpster at the church across the street. in a small downtown district in Jenkintown, Pa., approximately 20 We saved a tree, perhaps two. Boxes for professional shred- miles outside of Philadelphia. Quarters have gotten tighter each ding soon filled a section of the office. year as the archives grow, the We purged. We sold and gave away old programs grow and the member office furniture that wouldn’t be moving with records increase. Occasional visitors us. We haggled. to the office have been amazed that all We interviewed moving companies and SEJ programs — the conference, the got estimates. We packed, packed, packed. awards contest, regional event Where’s the Tylenol? support, listservs, the website to name The day came when the phone and a few — begin their development and Internet service were cut off then channeled are monitored from this small space to the new location. We went into a blackout, with very few people. (The staff lost our firewall, found it again; the server couldn’t possibly carry out all the was up and down; and the Internet got lost in programs but the amazing board of space for a few days. Cables are our friends. directors and members carry them It was a foggy moving day, May 16. out beautifully, making SEJ one We watched all the member files, accounts incredible member-driven organiza- files, boxes of records, the history of SEJ tion.) Currently five women staff the conferences and awards, bookcases, desks office, although men also have been and computers go down the treacherous on the staff over the years. outside staircase. Two trucks swallowed up Earlier this year it was decided the SEJ office and delivered it to our new that a move was necessary. You might home. In the new SEJ headquarters, each of- be wondering why, after a great many years in the same location. fice has at least one wall of windows and all we see when we look The reasons were varied; each had their own level of intensity, out are trees. We call our new place “the tree house” and we most were about our environment ... increasingly unreliable heat staffers are “the women of the treetops.” and air conditioning in the building; lack of owner maintenance; Although the new location (115 West Avenue, Jenkintown, PA a water leak with quick-growing mold; bugs; an outside metal stair 19046) is somewhat smaller than the last, it’s a stimulating office entrance that was healthy for exercise, unhealthy for handicapped space. The five women who moved a mountain of records, accessibility; metered parking and parking tickets; parking blocks archives, SEJ history (and cables) are happy to be here; it might away was healthy for exercise, unhealthy for the handicapped or show in the voice you hear the next time you call the SEJ office. injured. The location was squeezing us out. The move was planned over a period of months. First came Linda L.S. Knouse is the design editor of SEJournal and records the search of the real estate agents. Several went out looking for manager at the SEJ office. 22 SEJournal Summer 2009 Feature Media critic: Who will do regional or local investigations in science? The Observatory, CJR’s website for science media criticism, has become an essential stop for science and environmental journalists. Here are some insights from its editor.

By MICHAEL MANSUR

Whether it’s the latest climate change research or a fresh take graduated with a degree in environmental journalism in 2006, on the impact of the newspaper world’s implosion on science and climate change was exploding onto the media scene. With global environment coverage, Columbia Journalism Review’s Observa- warming well on its way to becoming one of the biggest stories tory is a key online resource. around, CJR’s editor, Mike Hoyt, was looking for someone to parse Its mission: Critique science and its coverage. all that coverage. I’d actually begun contributing to the Web site as Curtis Brainard, The Observatory’s editor, took time recently a student and continued to work there on a temporary basis for to answer a few questions from the SEJournal about his blog — about nine months after graduation. everything from how it operates to his views on key But my work drew a wonderful reaction from the journalism upcoming issues. community, which seemed to be looking for some kind of arbiter. With Be sure to check out The Observatory at all of the controversy surrounding climate science and skepticism, http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/. shortcomings in the coverage quickly became part of the story itself What follows is a edited version of our e-mail — not unlike what happened at the begin- conversation. ning of the Iraq War. So, Hoyt and Brent Cunningham, our managing editor, decided Can you tell us a little about your to make the gig permanent. In January 2008, background, especially about how it relates to we launched The Observatory, CJR’s covering science and environment? first full-time desk dedicated to I completed a dual master’s-degree program critiquing science, environment, and in earth & environmental science journalism at medical news (and a lot of the politics and Columbia. It was an incredible program, requiring business thereof). students to complete a research project that provided hands-on experience with laboratory and fieldwork. Can you detail how the blog works, Mine involved collecting pristine fossil corals and in terms of production? using radiocarbon dating to glean insights about It’s basically an intern (who rotates

fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field PHOTO COURTESY CURTIS BRAINARD every three months) and me at the and the influx of cosmic radiation. Completing that Curtis Brainard moment. Both of us try to average about thesis gave me a better understanding of the scientific method, two columns a week, one of which is often a roundup of which has helped me recognize articles that are insightful, one of the week’s big stories and one of which is something more accurate, credulous, exaggerated, etc. It has also encouraged me enterprising. In 2008, I had a decent freelance budget and was able to look for coverage that explains the work that scientists do in to publish one or two outside contributions per week, which was addition to the results they produce. On the journalism side of very nice as we’ve attracted some top-notch, veteran, mid-career, things, I don’t actually have any professional newsroom and beginning science writers. Usually, they pitched ideas, but I experience. That often gets an eyebrow raise out of other journal- have occasionally assigned pieces as well. Unfortunately, like so ists, but in some ways I feel it’s an advantage, or at least that’s how many of the publications that I cover, CJR’s discretionary budget I rationalize it ... I also like to drop the line (all in good humor) has all but vanished. Hopefully, that’s temporary and I’ve had a that Bob Costas was never a great ball player, but he knows the few saving graces in the meantime. First and foremost is my mechanics of the game as well as any athlete on the court. I don’t colleague Cristine Russell, president of the Council for the actually know anything about sports. Advancement of Science Writing (among so many other creden- How did you come to CJR or the Observatory? tials), whom we recently made a CJR contributing editor. She and I was simply in the right place and the right time. When I a number of other very dedicated journalists have made

23 SEJournal Summer 2009 contributions with little or no compensation. Though I don’t and businesses’ attempts to deal with the problem. Trying to gauge purport to speak for them, I think they believe strongly in CJR’s the climatic and economic consequences (good or bad) of various effort to advocate for a free and strong press. proposals and attempts to mitigate warming is very difficult.

What do you focus on? Much recent coverage has focused on the layoffs and I focus mostly on climate change and energy because that’s financial difficulties in the print world. What do you see as my area of expertise and that is the biggest story on my beat right emerging and important there? now. With the Obama administration and so many industries Yes, this has become the other area – in addition to climate finally getting behind global-warming mitigation efforts, however, and energy – that I focus on most heavily. It used to be that I rarely I’ve spent more time writing about the politics and business of wrote about breaking, industry news, but now there is something climate, and less about the science. In fact, keeping up with the to be covered almost every week. Obviously, it’s a very discour- flow of news has become increasingly challenging. When I started aging time to be working in journalism with so many layoffs, this job just three years ago, it was fairly easy to keep track of buyouts, and closings. There are fewer staff jobs for specialized climate and energy stories. These days it’s like sipping from a fire environmental reporters and fewer resources available to those who hose, but that’s good. A lot of people rightly argue that press still do have jobs. Tragically, this is happening at a time when environ- doesn’t hammer climate and energy issues as well as it could. On mental issues are finally getting more attention from the political and the other hand, they are clearly not the obscure beats they once business realms. were just five years ago. On the flipside, there are a lot of new online environmental news start-ups — both magazines and blogs — that are filling the How is your blog faring? Is it finding more interest in this vacuum. But they’re not filling all of it. These outlets provide only changing media world? a limited number of jobs. They offer mostly opinion and some The Observatory continues to draw very positive reactions advocacy writing, rather than objective news writing and investi- from readers. Since the gations. And, in terms of launch two years ago, our readership, many people readership has grown from ... opinion polls show that most of the have argued that they tend 5,000 or so unique visitors public is still not engaged on the to reach mostly those who per month to just under are already interested in 15,000. During our most climate and energy issue and that a environmental issues, successful months, that’s rather than bringing these jumped as high as 25,000. record number think that the media subjects to a wider demo- So, yes, there seems to be a graphic. I guess I try lot of interest in media exaggerates the risks of global warming to balance my coverage criticism, which is probably between “hope and attributable to the tumultuous state of the industry. But we’re also despair” as I once put it in a headline. But I hope I come off as dealing with the same tightening of financial resources as every- emphasizing the former. My job is to encourage the idea that we body else. Like many new outlets, we rely on a high degree of can improve journalism. support from non-profit foundations, and obtaining grants has become much more competitive. Are there some crucial things you’ll be watching in the near future on that front? Has the media’s coverage of climate change improved? Well, the fate of newspapers will be the fate of science and Or how would you characterize how it’s done? environmental journalism at newspapers. They’re hemorrhaging Absolutely. Though there are still voices at major jobs like mad, as so many of this journal’s readers are painfully publications that deny the reality of human-caused climate change, aware, and I certainly have no idea what will staunch the bleed- most news coverage has moved past the question about whether ing. However, I can say that it’s been phenomenally impressive or not global warming is real, and on to questions about what to to watch how well print reporters have transitioned to the Web do about it. For instance, the whole “balance as bias” dilemma, over the last few years. I really have no idea how practical it is whereby reporters would quote a skeptic in articles about the basic — because there’s still no reliable business model for any kind of science simply for propriety’s sake, has largely faded from the news. (web) journalism — but I would love to see them band together On the other hand, opinion polls show that most of the regionally, as they’ve talked about doing in the Northwest, to public is still not engaged on the climate and energy issue and that establish new, online outlets. Those might then work out new a record number think that the media exaggerates the risks of content sharing as distribution platforms. That might lead to global warming. So many outlets, especially in television news, interesting mergers and partnerships, such as some of those we’ve still aren’t hammering this issue hard enough. seen in the last year. And there’s plenty of room for improvement quality-wise, For example, The New York Times and The Washington Post too. Now that reporters have largely accepted the basics of now run content from E&E Publishing and Grist, respectively. man-made climate change, the story has actually grown more Online, one of the things to watch is the rise of scientist-run blogs, difficult, dealing now with the much more complicated and un- especially those that have been picked up by major outlets. That’s certain science related to the timing, severity, and location of spe- happened at Discover magazine, for instance, which has also cific impacts. Then there is the matter of following the politicians’ pulled a couple blogs away from Seed’s Scienceblogs.com

24 SEJournal Summer 2009 community. I’m also keenly interested in different types of get that on their agenda — that’s a real testament to the value of ventures, such as Climate Central, which contributes climate the organization. coverage to the News Hour and has an office that is half scientists and half journalists. We’re really going to have to expand the Michael Mansur, a former SEJ board member and longtime boundaries of the traditional newsroom, but there’s great potential environment writer, is SEJournal editor. in experimenting with a variety of these models.

The SEJournal is working on a piece about major awards Gary Braasch covers climate continued from page 21 won by enviro reporters this year. There’s an impressive list. How does that jive with what’s happening in the mainstream culminated in the book Earth Under Fire:How Global Warming is press? Are more/fewer quality pieces being produced? Changing the World, which was released in April in paperback Obviously, there are still tons of talented environmental by the University of California Press with substantial updates. journalists out there. But if you look at the membership roles of Braasch not only shot the book’s 110 photographs but wrote groups like SEJ and the National Association of Science Writers, 90,000 words as well, attracting the endorsement of more and more people are becoming freelancers. former Vice President Al Gore, who deemed the book “essential With fewer and smaller news outlets there is less space for reading for every citizen.” their work overall and it’s also harder for them — and staff Braasch continues to cover the climate on the web site reporters as well — to find support in the form of travel and www.WorldViewOfGlobalWarming.org which has become a expense budgets, research assistance, and just time to report. For popular internet portal on the subject (“I get e-mails from all of that, however, environmental issues are a very hot topic right students wanting me to write term papers for them,” he sighs), now; I don’t give a damn what the Gallup polls say (which is the as well as his personal web site www.braaschphotography.com opposite). It started with climate, I think, and has grown into larger Like both James Balog and David Arnold, Gary Braasch concern for natural resources, the global economy, national relies on images of glacial retreat to illustrate global warming. security, and health. So whether its fisheries, energy, the Arctic, or He’s been covering the story so long, in fact, that he’s now start- environmental toxicology, journalists are making sacrifices or ing to re-photograph some of the glaciers he first shot ten years doing whatever it takes to get the job done. And plenty of ago, seeking evidence of additional change just within that short newsrooms, even in their dilapidated state, know good work when geological time span. And true to the tenets of environmental they see it. photojournalism, he’s also managed to include the hand of man in his glacial retreat photography (see back cover), his own. What is being lost in these hard financial times? My biggest is probably for investigative reporting ... new online outlets are helping to mitigate some of the industry’s decline, (but) they tend to provide more commentary than incisive news. And I’m especially worried about locally focused investigation. Blogs may be opinion-oriented but they are also predominantly focused on national news and the Beltway. So although it’s a shame that many regional papers no longer cover the EPA because they closed their D.C. bureaus, plenty of people CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: are bird-dogging Lisa Jackson and following the latest climate- The 2010 Grady-Stack Award for change studies published in Science and Nature. But who is watching all the municipal waste departments out Interpreting Chemistry for the Public. there, looking over the environmental impact statements of local energy projects, or paying attention to water quality? Who will be For more than 50 years, the American Chemical keeping track of all environment-and energy-related stimulus Society has honored the work of journalists who money as it filters down to the lowest levels of government and have increased the public’s understanding of out to businesses and contractors? Regional news outlets are the chemistry and chemical progress. Nominations only ones who can reliably monitor such things. That’s exactly are now being accepted for the 2010 James T. where we’ve lost so many of our very best journalists. Grady – James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public. All nominees must Are there any hopeful developments that you’d point to? have made noteworthy presentations through a Only that there are a lot of very smart people thinking about medium of public communication. new ways to keep the public abreast of important and interesting issues related to science and the environment. J-Lab is a good Award Prize: $3,000, Gold Medallion and Certificate example. Also, the Knight Foundation is pouring some $100 Deadline: November 1, 2009 million into over 100 new media projects over the next few years. The 2010 Grady-Stack Award will be presented at the 239th And, honestly, the dedication of groups like SEJ gives me ACS National Meeting in San Francisco. hope. I’ll be sitting on a media-focused panel at the annual meet- Information can be found at www.acs.org/grady-stack or by ing of the Environmental Grantmakers Association this fall. SEJ’s contacting Nancy Blount at [email protected]. executive director and my co-panelist, Beth Parke, helped

25 SEJournal Summer 2009 Feature

NYT reporter’s‘misstep’causes furor among‘skeptics’

By BUD WARD

Veteran New York Times science writer Andy Revkin calls it recently uncovered GCC internal report, Revkin reported the “my worst misstep as a journalist in 26 years.” industry experts’ view that “The scientific basis for the greenhouse A vocal and prolific British climate contrarian is less charita- effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse ble. “Deliberate misrepresentation,” said Christopher Monckton in gases such as CO2 is well established and cannot be denied.” complaining that Revkin, in an April 24 front-page article, “offends The group’s policy leaders then turned around, appeared to grievously” the newspaper’s journalism ethics guidelines. deep-six that internal technical advice, and in a publicly distrib- Monckton asked Times Public Editor and Readers’ Represen- uted “backgrounder” continued to refute the science while “policy tative Clark Hoyt to conduct a “disciplinary enquiry into Revkin’s makers and pundits were fiercely debating whether humans could conduct.” dangerously warm the planet,” Revkin reported. While they’re at it, Monckton wants to see the Times give Revkin also reported that “some environmentalists have more coverage to those who share his largely discredited views of compared the tactic to that once used by tobacco companies, which the science of climate change and to report the issue “in a more for decades insisted that the science linking cigarette smoking to impartial, neutral fashion” reflecting what he sees as the “imagi- lung cancer was uncertain.” nary” risks of anthropogenic global warming. That’s an ouch. Dem’s fightin’ words, as they say. This is far from the first time that Revkin’s reporting has Those generally identified as contrarians were quick to comforted one side or the other in the climate change arena. As the pounce, yelling and blogging foul, but providing scant evidence to nation’s most high- counter Revkin’s profile, most closely ... One mistake is more powerful than 750 report. watched, and most With Al widely respected reporter stories reported accurately ... ever-tightening Gore testifying on focusing on the issue, Capitol Hill the he’s used to the barbs time demands on reporters can make same day the from all sides. That said, Times article was his reporting over the past reporting errors more common published, the two decades has focused former vice presi- largely on the science of climate change, and that’s an area dent was quick to point to the Revkin article to buttress his own generally seen as having moved steadily, if often incrementally and position. Gore alleged “a massive fraud far larger than Bernie fittingly, toward increased concern over the issue. Madoff’s fraud. They are the Bernie Madoffs of global warming,” Bottom line here: Revkin’s reporting occasionally raises the he complained, pointing to the disgraced Wall Street investor. eyebrows of those committed to the so-called “consensus science” Monckton speculated on a conspiracy between Gore and of IPCC, those who also are eager to move forward with stringent Revkin and his Times colleagues, but offered no proof to substan- controls on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It very tiate his accusation. likely more often gets under the skin of the so-called climate Revkin and the Times’ Hoyt replied to Monckton’s “deliber- “skeptics” or contrarians. ate misrepresentation” accusations only to find the next day that there indeed was a problem with the Revkin report. The Nature of the ‘Misstep’ The paper on May 2 posted an editor’s note saying that the So what exactly was Revkin’s “misstep”? A serious journalis- Revkin article had pointed to one version of a Global Climate tic lapse or oversight? Or a blip in an impressive journalism Coalition public “backgrounder” without knowing there was a career? Perhaps both? subsequent backgrounder “that included language that conformed The story in question was basically one of those “gotcha” to the scientific advisory committee’s conclusion.” The newspa- stories the media often love, complete with an element of cover-up per’s correction continued: The later version was distributed and sleight of hand. publicly in 1998, but existed in some form as early as 1995, Headlined “Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate,” the according to an online archive kept by Greenpeace. The amended story reported that a once-powerful but now long-defunct fossil- version, which was brought to the attention of the Times by a fuel-based industry coalition, the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), reader, acknowledged the consensus that greenhouse gases could had ignored its own scientific and technical experts. Based on a contribute to warming. What scientists disagreed about, it said, was

26 SEJournal Summer 2009 “the rate and magnitude of the ‘enhanced effect’ (warming) that will result.” The paper pointed out that the coalition in that later back- To advance public understanding grounder did omit any reference to the internal report section of environmental issues by improving saying “contrarian” theories on rising temperatures “do not offer the quality, accuracy, and visibility of convincing arguments against the conventional model of green- environmental reporting. house gas emission-induced climate change.”

Revkin on the Pains of His Mistake The Society of Environmental Revkin pointed to that last omission in saying he thinks the Journalists (SEJ) is a non-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) story would have been news even if he had been fully aware of organization. The mission of SEJ is to advance public under- that second backgrounder. He said he had downloaded that subsequent document but had not read it carefully enough to pick standing of environmental issues by improving the quality, up on the differences. accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting As a Would it still have been a front-page story? And did it really network of journalists and academics, SEJ offers national and merit such prominent front-page placement (below the fold) in the regional conferences, publications and online services. SEJ’s first place, given that the group has long been out of existence? membership of more than 1500 includes journalists working for According to Revkin, “The underlying issue — illustrated in the print and electronic media, educators, and students. Non-mem- GCC’s removal of the critique of ‘contrarian’ arguments from its internal primer — still stands … but the featured example of bers are welcome to attend SEJ’s annual conferences and to public doublespeak doesn’t.” subscribe to the quarterly SEJournal. But Revkin said he couldn’t answer whether the story as originally published warranted page-one coverage or whether a Send story ideas, articles, news briefs, tips and letters to editor story reflecting the subsequent backgrounder still would have Mike Mansur, Kansas City Star, 1729 Grant Ave., Kansas City, commanded such prominent play. He said those placement Mo. 64108, [email protected] To submit books for decisions are made by editors. Asked about his characterization of this as his “biggest review, contact Elizabeth Bluemink at [email protected] misstep” in 26 years, Revkin said he could not identify a compa- rable mistake of the same magnitude. “I can’t think of one For inquiries regarding the SEJ, please contact the SEJ office, bigger,” he said. PO Box 2492, Jenkintown, PA 19046; Ph: (215) 884-8174; Fax: (215) 884-8175; E-mail [email protected] ‘Tyranny of Time’ … and Journalism as ‘Self-Correcting’ Clearly discomforted by his reporting error, Revkin said “one mistake is more powerful than 750 stories” reported accurately. SEJournal Submission Deadlines He said the mistake confirmed his “biggest frustration” that ever- tightening time demands on reporters can make reporting errors Spring Issue February 1 more common. Summer Issue May 1 “It’s the tyranny of time,” Revkin said, “and it makes me a Fall Issue August 1 victim of my own lessons” to journalists about the need to take Winter Issue November 1 their time to ensure their accuracy in reporting on such issues. Revkin’s own pains with the situation notwithstanding, the mishap clearly provided an opening for critics and helped create To Advertise in SEJournal a “distraction” from serious attention on the issue, Revkin said. Prolific blogger Marc Morano, former staffer to Senator James Advertising rates are available on the SEJ website at Inhofe (R-Okla), for instance, rushed to put out a “Breaking” www.sej.org or by emailing [email protected] Saturday, May 2, e-mail blast celebrating the correction. More philosophical in commenting on the Revkin mistake, former National Association of Science Writers President Cristine Russell, now associated with the Belfer Center for Science and To Subscribe to SEJournal International Affairs at the Harvard University, told Revkin in an e-mail that he “handled the correction extremely well. Very fair Subscription information is available on the SEJ website at and transparent, straightforward. www.sej.org or by emailing [email protected] “Journalism is a self-correcting process, and you have shown how to handle something like this,” said Russell, who earlier had worked as a science reporter for The Washington Post and, before From the printer of SEJournal: “Our coated paper choices are that, with the old Washington Star. 10% to 30% PCW, SFI Participant, FSC Certified, or both. One supplier is a member of the Rainforest Alliance. The pages are printed with a soy based ink This article first appeared in the Yale Forum on Climate Change ... the entire journal can be recycled just like any other paper - although I don’t & the Media, where Bud Ward, an SEJ founder, is editor. know why someone would throw away such a fine publication.”

27 SEJournal Summer 2009 Science Survey Biofuels: The sequel The science behind second generation biofuels

By BILL KOVARIK Life Making fuel from cellulose? Cycle Analysis MATERIALS AND PROCESSES Will it be the fuel of the future and how is the U.S. system California Air Resources Board Materials (feedstocks) (CARB) estimated that cellulosic promoting or haring it? Energy crops – trees (eg, hybrid poplars); perennial field crops process came out with the lowest New political carrots carbon intensity, measured by C02 equiv- (miscanthus and switchgrass). Advantages: Higher yield per acre and sticks are leading the alent per megaJoule — expressed as than corn, lower carbon footprint, lower collection costs, more biofuels industry into a gCO2e/MJ. (MegaJoules are about 948 predictable components better suited to enzymatic processes. second generation phase, and Btus, or about one tenth of a Waste — paper from garbage, leftover crop residues many critics of the biofuels gallon ethanol). (corn husks, rice hulls) and timbering waste. industry think it’s long overdue. CARB – ARGONNE Lower unit costs but higher collection The question for the industry, though, is CARBON INTENSITY CALCULATIONS costs, sometimes better suited to acid whether the science is ready to scale up. or pyrolysis processes. Among the carrots is a USDA • 20.40 gCO2e/MJ cellulose ethanol from farmed trees Aquatic and marine biomass — budget request for $1.1 billion in • 22.20 gCO2e/MJ cellulose ethanol from waste wood Algae and kelp — Higher photo- funding to support development of • 73.40 gCO2e/MJ sugarcane ethanol synthetic efficiency, less energy advanced bio-refineries and other ( * includes 46 gCO2e/MJ for land change ) needed to break down cellulose, • 96 gCOe/MJ gasoline from California stimulus funding for renewable unlimited resource availability; • 99.4 gCO2e/MJ corn ethanol energy, along with about $384 ( * includes 30 gCO2e/MJ for land change ) disadvantage is purity, dewatering million previously allocated in 2007. and collection costs. Potential for third The sticks include the low carbon fuel generation biofuels and oils that would need standards passed by the California Air Resources less processing. Board in April (See C02 sidebar) and possible new EPA ( * The land change penalty Processes limits on carbon emissions. accounts for situations where Pretreatment — Often a combination new cropland is brought into At least eight major cellulosic biofuels plants are in of pressure, acid and agitation separates production somewhere else to production or under construction in the U.S. and Canada. offset corn or sugarcane cellulose from other components of (See industry sidebar) grown for ethanol.) biomass, such as lignin (glue) and hemi- So, it’s now or never for cellulosic biofu- Grain cellulose (five-carbon sugars) and makes it els — the “fuel of the future” for almost a producers reacted with more accessible. century, and long seen as the only way dismay to the new Acid — Cheap, well-known and used for centuries to to replace petroleum in a liquid fuel standards, which will effectively break wood down into materials for paper. Disadvan- system. keep corn ethanol out of California. tages include environmental impacts and lower process “We think, ultimately, cellulosic Some scientists, such as Bruce Dale from efficiencies. For instance, newsprint is cellulose with materials are the only materials Michigan State, say that the grain ethanol a high lignin content, which is why it is cheap and where you can produce enough industry should not be held accountable for ages quickly. Higher purity cellulose paper is used by under environmentally sustainable the carbon debt of industries outside the US artists and by book publishers for longevity. The (http://tinyurl.com/pym2y9). Others, such conditions,” said Chris Somerville, product is then fermented to ethanol or other biofuels as David Tilman of the University of director of the Energy Biosciences Minnesota, think the land penalty (eg butanol). Institute at the University of California might be higher. Enzyme — Better process efficiencies, lower envi- at Berkeley at the 2008 Society of ronmental impacts, but higher engineering standards Environmental Journalists needed. Some pilot plants have lost one batch in conference. CARB says that the new standard will eventually lead three due to contamination in the process. But which cellulosic to the development of 1.5 billion gallons of cellulosic Fermentation to ethanol also required. materials, how are they to be biofuel, 25 new plants and 3,000 new jobs in Gasification (pyrolysis) — Applying heat to harvested and processed, and California. http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/lcfs.htm biomass in a closed chamber results in a release of what fuels will come out the gas. The gas can then be processed and fermented other side of the pipeline? using varieties of clostridium bacteria or it can be reformed in the

28 SEJournal Summer 2009 presence of a catalyst. One advantage of reformed gas is the increased variety of fuels that can be made. Commercial

History and background Cellulose Development The idea that cellulose would be the foundation for replacing Enzyme process — Combinations of mild acid and petroleum was championed by Henry Ford, Isaac Asimov, and pressure pre-treat the plant material, then enzymes break cellu- even, 90 years ago, by the scientist who founded the Cellulose lose down into glucose, and then ferment the glucose into Chemistry division of the American Chemical Society – ethanol or other chemicals. Harold Hibbert. “It looks as if in the rather near future, this country will be • POET – 20,000 gal/yr — Scotland, S.D. Enzyme process. under the necessity of paying out vast sums yearly in order to Operating, will lead to 25 million gallons per year commercial obtain supplies of crude oil from Mexico, Russia and Persia,” facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa, making ethanol from corn cobs Hibbert said in a 1921 journal article. “It is believed, however, and stalks in tandem with a standard grain ethanol plant. that the chemist is capable of solving this difficult problem ... (and) it would seem that cellulose in one form or another is • ABENGOA Bioenergy — Hugoton, Kan. Enzyme process. capable of filling that role.” Wheat straw. Starting construction in 2010, in production by 2011. In 1925, Henry Ford told reporters: “The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from • IOGEN — Ottawa, Canada — Enzyme process. One of apples, weeds, sawdust — almost anything.” Ford’s optimism the earliest firms to work on the cellulosic enzyme process, about cellulosic biofuels was unusual for the auto, oil and Iogen declined a partial US-funded deal and is working with a chemical industries, which had all placed their bets on leaded start-up plant in Canada. gasoline and foreign oil. Of course, cellulose processes were (and still are) important • DUPONT DANISCO — Vonore, Tenn. — Under for paper and chemicals such as celluloid and rayon. During the construction, plant will use switchgrass and enzyme processing. early 20th century, the acid process was improved to allow a greater variety of woody feedstock such as southern pine. Paper • VERENIUM - Jennings, La. — 1.4 million gallon demon- mills of this era were well known for billowing clouds of foul- stration-scale plant / waste biomass sugarcane smelling pollutants, although steam and pressure pulping eventu- http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20828/?nlid=1099 ally reduced costs to the environment. The idea of turning cellulose into renewable fuels remained Advanced enzyme process — Along with enzyme break- attractive, and science writers followed it over the years. In 1940, down of cellulose into glucose, a chain of enzymes can for example, New York Times science writer William L. Laurence produce a variety of products, not just ethanol. wrote about Ernst Berl, a Jewish scientist who left Germany to work at Carnegie Institute. Berl developed a pressurizing process • MASCOMA - Rome, N.Y. — Began in February 2009 for reducing cellulose from all kinds of plant materials to either with capacity of 200,000 gallons of cellulose ethanol, gasoline liquid or solid biofuels. or other chemicals from wood chips, grasses, corn and sugar Berl’s work “assures mankind of an illimitable supply of the cane residues. An affiliate is developing a commercial-scale prime movers of the wheels of civilization for all time, after facility in Kinross, Mich. natural deposits have been exhausted,” Laurence said. The idea was compelling, especially in light of the possible Concentrated acid process — Strong sulfuric acid is added exhaustion of coal and oil reserves which, even in the 1940s, had to dried biomass, heated and then separated under pressure. This long been a concern for scientists and policy makers. is very similar to the way cellulose is separated for paper. Another WWII era development was the discovery of a voracious cellulose–eating fungus in the remote jungles of the • BLUEFIRE Ethanol — Irvine, Calif. Acid process. Pacific. Soldiers called it “jungle rot,” because the fungus was Garbage, wood waste, ag residues — Still hung up on siting. turning their cotton clothing into sugar. Polyester clothing solved http://www.bluefireethanol.com/ the problem, but Elwyn T. Reese and other Army chemists recog- nized a key to one of the great longstanding problems of science: Synthesis gas — Heat and pressure are applied and bio- How to efficiently split the strong bond that holds molecules of mass is turned into biogas — hydrogen and carbon dioxide glucose together to form cellulose. Although it was possible to streams —that are then re-combined in the presence of catalysts produce fuel as a side-stream at paper mills, an enzymatic process to create different kinds of fuels or chemicals. could make fuel cheaper, many believed. In the 1970s, Reese and others told congressional commit- • RANGE BIOFUELS — Soperton, Ga. Pyrolysis to tees that they could produce fuel from cellulose at low cost, and synthesis gas (syngas) using heat, pressure and steam, and without affecting food supplies, but they were unable to attract catalytic treatments. Under construction. First 20 million much research support as grain-state and oil-state politicians gallon phase by March 2010. fought for control of energy markets. http://www.rangefuels.com/our-plants.html Reese’s optimism notwithstanding, cellulosic biofuels are an enormously complex area of biochemical engineering.

29 SEJournal Summer 2009 Researchers in hundreds of university and government labs have posed to hundreds of gallons of ethanol per acre with corn. taken decades to create an industry that is nearly commercial — Among researchers working on energy crops are Ken Vogel at isolating, characterizing and testing the complex chemical the University of Nebraska, David Bransby at Auburn, Stephen structures of plants, and working on cascading systems of enzyme Long at the University of Illinois, John Sheehan of the National reactions. One of the scientists intrigued with Reese and his Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Chris Somerville discoveries was Patrick Foody, who founded Iogen Corp. in 1974. of the University of California at Berkeley. The company now has a commercial scale enzyme biorefinery One flaw of cellulose crops according to Somerville, is that under construction in Saskatchewan. they require high energy processing to break down cellulose into Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov found all this fascinat- glucose, ferment the glucose, and then distill the ethanol. ing. “Cellulose can be broken down into glucose molecules,” Envisioning a third generation of biofuels, Somerville says more Asimov said in a 1986 article, “and the glucose solution can be research is needed on plants that produce oils and fuel-like fermented into alcohol ... (and) used as a liquid fuel.” The substances that would be very close to gasoline and diesel, and advantage? “Cellulose is self-renewing if we are careful to consequently need less energy to refine. conserve our forests, so the fuel we get from it could last indefi- Another issue involving cellulosic biomass came up with nitely, whereas oil from the ground must be completely used up research by Timothy Searchinger, published in 2008, that eventually.” Yet Asimov found it hard to resist the science fiction indicated CO2 releases from converting forests or pastures to notion that we need to beware of mutant microbes that might get cropland are significant. The carbon intensity of various crops was outside their tanks and dissolve the forests. considered in recent carbon standards issued by the Low oil prices in the 1980s dissolved political support for California Air Resources Board. second-generation biofuels research, but higher energy costs and Several interesting efforts to dramatically broaden the the need for non-toxic octane-boosting gasoline additives in the resource base using aquatic and marine organisms are under way. 1990s launched the grain ethanol industry. Questions about the One company (Algenol) is hoping to make ethanol efficiently energy efficiency and carbon footprint of grain ethanol kept high from algae in fresh water situations where lots of carbon dioxide interest in second-generation biofuels. gas is available. One milestone was the 2005 “billion-ton” biomass study at Two marine research efforts involve cellulose from kelp at Oak Ridge National Labs. Waste wood, switchgrass and other the University of Costa Rica and the Scottish Association for cellulose sources amounted to 1.3 billion tons, which could Marine Sciences. replace at least 30 percent of U.S. petroleum, the study said. As it turns out, this too is nothing new. As early as 1918, The billion-ton study changed the federal government’s the Pasteur Institute was reporting in Scientific American that approach to energy, but there are concerns about the use of it had been able to distill about 10 gallons of fuel ethanol per Conservation Reserve Program land, about increased forestry, and ton of seaweed. other impacts from intensified biomass harvesting. Research today on switchgrass and miscanthus shows high Bill Kovarik, an SEJ board member, is working on The potential — more than 1,000 gallons of biofuel per acre, as op- Summer Spirit, a book about the history of renewable energy.

Links worth checking:

Costa Rican marine cellulose research http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/biofuel-solutio.html

Scottish marine cellulose research http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news/2695/project-to-make-biofuels-from-kelp-funded

Algenol http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.algae08may08,0,5830715.story

Billion Ton Study (2005) http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v40_1_07/article03.shtml

Cellulose biofuels industry information http://www.ethanolrfa.org/resource/cellulosic/

Department of Energy Cellulose Biomass resources http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/news.html http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/past_solicitations.html

Energy balance of cellulosic biofuels processes versus grain ethanol http://rael.berkeley.edu/ebamm/

30 SEJournal Summer 2009 Book Shelf

Tracing the oceans’ many ‘garbage patches’ containing commemorative messages into the Atlantic and Caribbean to mark the company’s 200th birthday in 1959. And Flotsametrics and the religious evangelists have thrown thousands of “gospel bottles” into the seas to reach potential converts. Even when senders’ Floating World motives are a little strange, these launches are useful data sources for Ebbesmeyer, who reviews the available historical data on 32 drifter launches that took place over the past 150 years from by Curtis Ebbesmeyer locations around the world. (Response rates varied from 1 to 50 and Eric Scigliano percent, depending on where the bottles were launched, what reward they offered for a reply, and how well they were sealed Harper Collins, 2009, $26.99 and weighted.) In sum, flotsam can tell us a lot. An increasing share of ocean Reviewed by JENNIFER WEEKS junk is plastic, which lasts longer than paper, wood, cloth or metal, although it breaks down into increasingly tiny fragments. Some- In 1991, Curtis Ebbesmeyer was a successful middle-aged times these bits choke marine animals and birds. Many contain oceanographer who had studied offshore oil platform design in phthalates and other endocrine-disrupting or toxic components, the North Sea, sewage dispersion in Puget Sound, and eddies in which can kill or alter sea life more slowly. Thanks to quirks in the North Atlantic. But he found his true calling when thousands coastal topography and ocean currents, some “junk beaches” of Nike shoes, which had spilled from a cargo vessel crossing the accumulate tons of plastic waste every year. Pacific months earlier, started washing up on Northwest beaches. “Sometimes I feel like an albatross myself, choking on so Fascinated with all kinds of “drifty things,” Ebbesmeyer saw the much grim but exquisite data gleaned from the waves,” shoes as a unique opportunity to study the oceans. Ebbesmeyer ruefully observes. As one response, he argues that “These thousands of lost sneakers composed a giant scien- shipping companies should have to report anything they lose or tific experiment on a silver platter, fully if unwittingly funded by throw overboard. (This is required now only when ships lose at Nike–aserendipitous window into the ocean’s deepest secrets,” least eight freight containers, because spills on this scale are Ebbesmeyer recalls. considered threats to navigation.) In Flotsametrics and the Floating World, co-written with Flotsametrics is full of insights about how the oceans have journalist Eric Scigliano, Ebbesmeyer describes how he has used shaped human history. For example, Columbus made good time flotsam (floating objects accidentally lost at sea), including shoes, across the Atlantic because he picked up the Atlantic Equatorial plastic bath toys, Japanese urns, and human body parts, to map Current, which moves ten miles per day. And some of the first and time ocean currents. Knowing when objects fell overboard Japanese settlers in Hawaii arrived there because their fishing boats and when they washed ashore, Ebbesmeyer and his colleagues could were pushed out into the Pacific by powerful coastal currents. test computer models of ocean circulation and calculate how long it It’s also a window into the mind of a curious scientist, always took objects to travel all the way around gyres – huge closed current looking for new angles on the “floating world,” with vivid loops that rotate in the middle of the world’s major seas. descriptions of how oceans and currents work. Ocean waters Ebbesmeyer coined the term “garbage patch” to describe contain numerous blobs and slabs of water with varying densities zones of floating junk that have formed at the centers of most of and temperatures, which the authors compare to a huge, flattened the world’s 11 ocean gyres. Media accounts usually focus on one lava lamp. “If each slab were a different color, the ocean would patch in the western Pacific, but Ebbesmeyer has documented look like a Pointillist painting,” they write. And the Gulf Stream eight garbage patches around the globe. Combined, he estimates, “shakes loose like a fire hose from its pivot point at North they would cover an area more than twice as big as the continen- Carolina’s Cape Hatteras, spraying uncountable drifting objects tal United States. east toward Europe.” As Ebbesmeyer recounts, humans have been throwing stuff This exuberant book will make you want to kick into the oceans for centuries. Byzantine emperors beheaded their off your shoes and go beachcombing. If you turn up anything defeated opponents and threw their corpses into the Bosporus interesting, you can report it to a citizen-science network that Strait. Norsemen tossed their favorite possessions overboard in Ebbesmeyer helped create to collect information on flotsam the 9th and 10th centuries and settled where the goods washed up finds (their newsletter, Beachcombers’ Alert!, is online at — the modern site of Reykjavik. This was good science, http://beachcombersalert.org). Ebbesmeyer observes: If flotsam from ships washed up there, so would usable stuff like dead whales and driftwood. Freelancer Jennifer Weeks, [email protected], is based in More recently, the Guinness brewery dropped 200,000 bottles Watertown, Mass.

31 SEJournal Summer 2009 Book Shelf stories followed. Pittman and Waite won SEJ’s top reporting awards in 2006 and 2007 for their exposé of the illusion of wetlands protection. The expanded book-length tale, 17 chapters with two appendices explaining the authors’ complex methodol- ogy and a useful list of remote sensing sources, could have been called: “Tides of Destruction,” “They Couldn’t Say No,” “A Landscape of Greed, Lies and Incompetence,” or maybe Detailing the destruction “Swamped by Sprawl.” of what once made The reporters name names: Disney’s empire over Jane Green Florida a paradise Swamp with “It’s a Small World After All” piped in; Scripps Institute initially ignoring a national refuge; universities that would be better named “mildew U.;” mega-companies, the ever Paving Paradise: notorious Wal-Mart and lots of Florida legislators cussing all the way to re-election. Even some of the good guys turn out to be bad Florida’s Vanishing guys. They get them all. A real plus, the book includes photos from Wetlands and the the Times’ morgue and but only two maps. I craved more maps. “We got quite a few [letters to the editor], plus lots of Failure of No Net Loss e-mails, phone calls and letters sent directly to us from readers who were outraged at what we found,” Pittman told me in an e-mail. “Several of those contacts became sources for the book.” The choice of the title Paving Paradise recalls the haunting by Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite ‘60s tune and seems better suited to the book’s place in the Florida University Press of Florida: Gainesville, 2009, $27 History Series, over 50 titles to date including Bill Belleville’s Losing It All To Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape Reviewed by JoAnn M. Valenti (2006), Julian Pleasants’ Orange Journalism: Voices from Florida Newspapers (2003), and two titles from the incomparable Al Burt: It began with a tip about a report from the National Academy The Tropic of Cracker (1999) and Florida: Snowbirds, Sand of Sciences titled “Compensating for Wetland Losses Under the Castles, and Self-Rising Crackers (1997). It’s an impressive, Clean Water Act.” A real page turner. must-read series. Craig Pittman, who had been covering environment issues Read Pittman and Waite’s book first. Confronting the larger story for The St. Petersburg Times for five years, was blown away by in 350 pages was a near death blow for me, each page the document’s indictment of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. documenting another battle lost, maybe even the whole war. It’s more He figured it was time to cover the statewide picture, not just than a legacy of hanging chads or threatened offshore drilling fouling report one loss at a time as wetlands disappeared. Florida’s image. Like Pittman, as a Florida native, I’m outraged daily When he checked the Corps’ website, he discovered that more by the senseless destruction of all that was Florida. There were only wetland destruction permits were being issued in Florida than in two million of us in 1945 when I was born; the state’s population now any other state and Florida had lost more wetlands than any other nears the 20-million mark. Page one reminders of the crowd’s impact state. Thousands of acres had been bartered off to developers, are critical if anything is to be salvaged. A climate of fewer inves- never mind that yards in the new subdivisions could sprout cy- tigative reports a la the oft-seen Pittman byline threatens to erase even press trees and float septic tanks. our memory from history. A national policy of “no net loss” had been established in In spite of the authors’ prescribed 12-step program, recently 1989. Clearly, the policy was in shambles. Wetlands in Florida another Pittman and Waite story’s headline read: “Is more growth were being converted to concrete jungle. More homes for people the solution?” Less than astute legislators were suggesting easier rather than alligators or panthers, more stores, more parking lots permits to revive the economy. Opponents pointed to the over- and more roads leading to more of the above. The Corps’ mission: abundance of vacant houses and letters again poured in from development enablers. readers. The story is far from over. It took four years to write this Although the Corps uses Geographic Information Systems to book. The sequel may not take as long. pinpoint wetlands, it didn’t take long for Pittman to discover that Paving Paradise provides some lessons for reporters who the data were unreliable. His search for a GIS guru led to Matt want to dig deep. For example, it shows that traditional reporting Waite, a metro G.A. from one of the Times’ bureaus assigned to doesn’t always cut it on the environment beat. In addition to the computer-assisted reporting. The two teamed up to learn the usual search for documents, face-to-face interviews, rewriting and technology and to begin the tussle for federal agency data. endless editing, you should be prepared to learn more technology Since the Corps’ data were less than useful, Waite came up than you ever expected to master, perhaps requiring more college with a way to go after the story using satellite-imagery analysis. coursework to finally get the story. Maybe you’ll end up with an He had to take a couple of courses in remote sensing at the local award-winning series, and then a book. A really good book. university just to understand how to compute the number of acres lost. It took nearly a year to analyze where paradise had JoAnn M. Valenti, Ph.D., SEJournal editorial board and emerita been paved. professor, is back home in Tampa trying not to go down with the The duo’s investigative report, available at ship. [[email protected]] www.sptimes.com/wetlands, ran May 22-23, 2005. Additional 32 SEJournal Summer 2009 wailing in a planetary emergency,” she writes. “The decades ahead promise unimaginable loss…the century ahead promises to be a wild trip.” Yet somehow, she finds joy in being a part of the drama. A rare book delivers Maybe it’s the stake she drives deep into the heart of capitalism. a sobering message for us Or maybe it’s just in a journalist’s nature. Human dominion is done and Nature’s back on center stage. “The rare interlude of climate grace — a long summer — is over,” The End of she says. Thus, the title. Though she presents a cacophony of the Long Summer: overwhelming disaster, she offers a smidgeon of hope. Probably couldn’t see the point of writing a total doomsday book. Instead, Why we must rethink she delivers a vision for hope laced with long-term uncertainty, our civilization to survive and tells us to learn to cope with tragedy. She calls for “shock-proofing our human systems,” on a volatile Earth functional redundancy in the face of globalization-caused vulner- ability, more regional and local self-reliance, enhanced social capital (so others can rebuild post-chaos…ouch!). It’s a call for by Dianne Dumanoski nothing less than a total redesign of social and economic systems. Crown Publishers, 2009, $25 She hasn’t written a book on adaptation, but rather one on how to survive chaos. Reviewed by JoAnn M. Valenti JoAnn M. Valenti is an emerita professor and serves on the Rachel Carson famously observed after the publication of editorial board of SEJournal. Silent Spring that the subject of a book selects the author, not the other way around. Anyone who knows Dianne Dumanoski, or has read her work as a co-author of Our Stolen Future,orfollowed Vi her award-winning reporting for many years at the Boston Globe, sit won’t be surprised to see her take on the big question: Are we w going to make it or is it too late? w ten This is one of those books that comes along at the right time, w.sej.org of a rare necessity for those struggling to put it all together and figure out if we’ve totally screwed up the planet and anyone will be around after all or not. Neither communicators nor leaders realize where the 20th President’s Report continued from page 4 century has taken us, she states at the beginning of the book. Who SEJ’s board and staff will sit down with funders to brainstorm better to figure it out for us than a Ph.D. drop-out who decided to ways to keep environmental reporting strong, and better yet — to become a top-notch environmental journalist instead? Dumanoski take advantage of this transition to create that vision of environ- has been a front-line witness and chronicler of the crisis we’re in mental journalism that is even more robust and credible. now. She covered Stockholm, Rio, Johannesburg, Chernobyl. Two members of the SEJ board recently lost their jobs, She’s now in demand worldwide for her insightful lectures and casualties of the current industry chaos. And yet, we’re still fun- courses on science and environment issues. The End of the Long damentally optimistic about the future. There will be a new model Summer is heady stuff, thanks to her detailed research, the depth for journalism. And our story is so compelling that the need for of her concern and her skill at walking her readers through people who can cover it well can’t do anything but grow. The hard philosophy, science, environmental polemics and then some. part is getting from here to there. When she was a journalist working on deadline, Dumanoski I love the sign you often see on tip jars in Portland coffee- had no time to reflect on the omens of a doomed planet. Decades houses — “Fear change?” of notes, a passion for investigation and analytical thinking have Sure, change is frightening, because it shakes our world and birthed this book. Maybe not since Silent Spring have we had such forces us to go somewhere new, a place where we’re no longer com- a strident warning or a writer brave enough to take on the mission fortable. But afterwards, we often find ourselves somewhere better. of truth-telling, written with a journalist’s dedication to clarity, SEJ can handle change. solid sourcing and engaging information. The book has given her A week after SEJ’s new website launched in May, SEJ staff the latitude for a more poetic style and depth. This is a scary book. moved into a new headquarters. The rent is cheaper, but the new Daunted? Not yet, she says. Just damn close. offices are filled with light, and views of trees and green leaves. The Dumanoski challenges the world’s devotion to growth, going new website is not just beautiful — it’s infinitely better organized. far beyond the current attention to sustainability. She rethinks how And as we finish one transition, we get ready for the next, and the progress is defined and what it means to be a steward of nature. next, and the one after that. The myth of controlling nature, she argues, has been vanquished, Like the gumbo, the strategic planning retreat was a renewal and what’s more, nature is returning with a vengeance. Climate of historic values, with added spice. change is only the beginning. Whether any current species will survive is a sobering question. We’ve busted up the whole Christy George, SEJ board president, is special projects dynamic, the Earth’s unified systems and metabolism. “Sirens are producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting. 33 SEJournal Summer 2009 New Books from Gators, Gourdheads and Pufflings SEJ Members by Susan D. Jewell “In the great tradition of 2008-2009 American nature writing ” Sun-Sentinel. Jewell’s Members - To advertise your 2008-2009 book witty tales as a wildlife email the SEJ office at [email protected] biologist are engrossing.

spr10 Infinity Publishing

Paving Paradise by Craig Pittman & Rescue Warriors Matthew Waite Pittman & Waite explain The U.S. Coast Guard the illusions of “No Net America’s Forgotten Heroes Loss” wetland protection, wntr10 by David Helvarg exposing the unseen environmental Brings you into the daily lives of “coasties” whose mix consequences of rampant sprawl. of altruism and adrenaline helps assure the safety of University Press of Florida

spr10 our waters. St Martin’s Press

Global Fever How to Treat Climate Change Smithsonian Ocean by William H. Calvin Our Water Our World The climate doctors have been consulted; the lab reports by Deborah Cramer have come back. Now it’s time to pull together the Big This companion to the Picture and discuss treatment options. Smithsonian’s new Sant University of Chicago Press 9 Ocean Hall sheds new light sum0 on the meaning of the sea in our lives. wntr10 Smithsonian Books/Harper Collins

The Crooked Mile wntr10 by Kevin Clemens Award winning journalist and au- thor, Clemens examines the past, present & future of the energy & infrastructure issues associated with

sum09 automobiles & transportation. Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town’s Demontreville Press, Inc. Toxic Legacy by Nancy A. Nichols A heart-wrenching story of two sisters, their cancers, and the polluted town they grew up in The Reporter’s Handbook along the shores of Lake Michigan. on Nuclear Materials, Energy, and Waste Management wntr10 Island Press by Michael R. Greenberg Bernadette M West Karen W. Lowrie Save Gas, Save Henry J. Mayer the Planet Green Your Work An essential reference book by Kim Carlson presenting scientifically accurate by John Addison An accessible and and accessible overviews of 24 of Millions of Americans are compelling how-to guide for the most important issues of the now reducing their trans- nuclear era. making any workplace portation carbon footprint by riding clean, riding less and environmentally friendly & spr10 socially responsible- Vanderbilt University Press riding together. Optimark Inc wntr10 centric. Adams Media

34 SEJournal Summer 2009 Mabgd bml over after the conference?

THINK AGAIN

An Intense Expedition-Style Journey of Learning for Reporters, Editors, and News Producers Organized and Conducted by the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources (IJNR) in Collaboration with the Society of Environmental Journalists. OCT 11-14, 2009

Themes will include: How to Apply: ~ The Lake Country and Global Warming: Send a statement of interest (no longer than two pages), a How Far Will Water Levels Fall? current résumé of work experience and educational background, a reference letter or supervisor’s endorsement, and four work ~ Challenges of Atmospheric Monitoring in samples to [email protected]. an Era of Climate Change Applications by email are preferred. Hard copy applications can be sent to: ~ Tensions in Wolf Country: Managing the Largest IJNR Fellowship Selection Committee Regional Wolf Population in the Lower 48 P.O. Box 1996 Missoula, MT 59806 ~ Rural Sprawl: Ecological Consequences of Shoreline and Deep Woods Development The application deadline for this program is August 10, 2009. Applications must be received in Missoula by that date. Early ~ Outsmarting Exotics: Novel and Innovative applications are encouraged. Methods of Extirpating Aquatic Invasive Species For more information, please visit www.IJNR.org and contact either Peter Annin at [email protected]/(608) 278-8005 or ~ Sustainable Practices in Tribal Forests: The Frank Allen at [email protected]/(406) 273- 4626. Realities of a 180-year Harvest Rotation

~ Prehistoric Comeback: Reviving Populations of the Mighty Lake Sturgeon REGISTER NOW!

www.sej.org www.IJNR.org ournal Society of Environmental Journalists P.O. Box 2492 Jenkintown, PA 19046 U.S.A.

PHOTO © GARY BRAASCH Gary Braasch comparing a 1932 image of Glacier Broggi in the Peruvian Andes, made by Hans Kinzl of Austria, with the scene as he found it in 1999, when the glacier had become just a small patch one kilometer above its previous location. (See related story on page 21.) From EARTH UNDER FIRE: How Global Warming is Changing the World, by Gary Braasch (University of California Press, 2007), just released in paperback, April 2009.